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未能

Mandarin · pinyin wèi néng

cannot
to fail to
unable to

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Characters in this entry

未: wèi · not yet; eighth earthly branch
能: néng · to be able; can, permitted to; ability

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2 · wei4 neng2

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

verb

cannot; must not; should not
to be unable to; to fail to

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

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