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萬不得已

简万不得已 · 繁萬不得已

Mandarin · pinyin wàn bù dé yǐ

only when absolutely essential (idiom); as a last resort

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Characters in this entry

萬: Look up this written character
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
得: dé · obtain, get, gain, acquire
已: yǐ · already; finished; stop
万: wàn · mò · ten thousand; innumerable

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–2–3 · wan4 bu4 de2 yi3

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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.

萬不得已 · find source passages ↗ · 万不得已 · 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.

adv

out of absolute necessity; with no other choice; as a last resort

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

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