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未卜先知

Mandarin · pinyin wèi bǔ xiān zhī

(idiom) to foresee the future (without divination); to know beforehand through uncanny insight

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Characters in this entry

未: wèi · not yet; eighth earthly branch
卜: bo · bǔ · fortune telling; prophesy
先: xiān · first, former, previous
知: zhī · know, perceive, comprehend

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–1–1 · wei4 bu3 xian1 zhi1

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

mei6 buk1 sin1 zi1

Cantonese word readings for 未卜先知. 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 predict accurately; to foretell accurately

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

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