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寡不敵眾

简寡不敌众 · 繁寡不敵眾

Mandarin · pinyin guǎ bù dí zhòng

the few are no match for the many
heavily outnumbered
facing impossible odds (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

寡: guǎ · widowed; alone, friendless
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
敵: Look up this written character
眾: Look up this written character
敌: dí · enemy, foe, rival; resist
众: zhòng · multitude, crowd; masses, public

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–4–2–4 · gua3 bu4 di2 zhong4

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

寡不敵眾 · find source passages ↗ · 寡不敌众 · find source passages ↗

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to be hopelessly outnumbered; to fight against hopeless odds

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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