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泥古不化

Mandarin · pinyin nì gǔ bù huà

conservative and unable to adapt (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

泥: ní · mud, mire; earth, clay; plaster
古: gǔ · old, classic, ancient
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
化: huà · change, convert, reform; -ize

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–4–4 · ni4 gu3 bu4 hua4

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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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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

nai4 gu2 bat1 faa3

Cantonese word readings for 泥古不化. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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