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有眼不識泰山

简有眼不识泰山 · 繁有眼不識泰山

Mandarin · pinyin yǒu yǎn bù shí Tài Shān

lit. to have eyes but fail to recognize Mt Tai (idiom)
fig. to fail to recognize sb important or sb's great talent
to be blind to the fact

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Characters in this entry

有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
眼: yǎn · eye; eyelet, hole, opening
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
識: Look up this written character
泰: tài · great, exalted, superior; big; hexagram ䷊
山: shān · mountain, hill, peak
识: shí · shì · recognize, understand, know

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

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Mandarin tones

3–3–4–2–4–1 · you3 yan3 bu4 shi2 Tai4 Shan1

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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.

有眼不識泰山 · find source passages ↗ · 有眼不识泰山 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jau5 ngaan5 bat1 sik1 taai3 saan1

Cantonese word readings for 有眼不識泰山. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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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 fail to recognize someone important or someone's great talent; to be blind to the fact

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

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