目不識丁

Chinese

	eye; item; section eye; item; section; list; catalogue; table of contents; order (taxonomy); goal; name; title	to fail to see; not to know; not to appreciate
trad. (目不識丁)	目	不識	丁
simp. (目不识丁)	目	不识	丁
Literally: “One's eyes don't know the character 丁.”

Etymology

According to the Old Book of Tang, the Tang-dynasty official Zhang Hongjing once scornfully said to his soldiers:

「……今天下無事，汝輩挽得兩石力弓，不如識一丁字。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.][▼ expand/hide]

“……今天下无事，汝辈挽得两石力弓，不如识一丁字。” [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: The Old Book of Tang, 945CE

“...... Jīn tiānxià wúshì, rǔbèi wǎn dé liǎng dàn lì gōng, bùrú shí yī dīng zì.” [Pinyin]

“ […] Now that the world is in peace, although you all are able to draw a bow that takes two dan [a unit of measure] of force to be drawn, that is not as good as being able to read the simplest characters like 丁.”

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): mùbùshídīng, mùbùshìdīng

(Zhuyin): ㄇㄨˋ ㄅㄨˋ ㄕˊ ㄉㄧㄥ, ㄇㄨˋ ㄅㄨˋ ㄕˋ ㄉㄧㄥ
Cantonese (Jyutping): muk⁶ bat¹ sik¹ ding¹

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese, Mainland)⁺
  - Pinyin: mùbùshídīng
  - Zhuyin: ㄇㄨˋ ㄅㄨˋ ㄕˊ ㄉㄧㄥ
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: muhbushyding
  - IPA ^(key): /mu⁵¹⁻⁵³ pu⁵¹ ʂʐ̩³⁵ tiŋ⁵⁵/
- (Standard Chinese, Taiwan)⁺
  - Pinyin: mùbùshìdīng [Phonetic: mùbúshìdīng]
  - Zhuyin: ㄇㄨˋ ㄅㄨˋ ㄕˋ ㄉㄧㄥ
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: muhbushyhding
  - IPA ^(key): /mu⁵¹ pu⁵¹⁻³⁵ ʂʐ̩⁵¹ tiŋ⁵⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: muk⁶ bat¹ sik¹ ding¹
  - Yale: muhk bāt sīk dīng
  - Cantonese Pinyin: muk⁹ bat⁷ sik⁷ ding¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: mug⁶ bed¹ xig¹ ding¹
  - IPA ^(key): /mʊk̚² pɐt̚⁵ sɪk̚⁵ tɪŋ⁵⁵/

Idiom

目不識丁

(derogatory) to not even know the most basic characters; to be densely illiterate

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