鄙劣

Mandarin · pinyin bǐ liè

Meanings

  1. base
  2. mean
  3. despicable
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Characters in this entry

鄙
bǐ · mean; low
劣
liè · bad, inferior; slightly
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–4 · bi3 lie4

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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 · 4 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

pei2 lyut3

Cantonese word readings for 鄙劣. 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.

adj

  1. (literary, of knowledge, experience, etc.) meager; mean; shallow
  2. (literary) poor; inferior; substandard; low-grade
  3. (literary) mean; base; despicable; nasty

pron

  1. (literary, humble) I; me

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack