目不識丁

Chinese

		eye; item; section eye; item; section; list; catalogue; table of contents; (taxonomy) order; 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。」 [Literary Chinese, trad.]

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

From: The Old Book of Tang, 945 CE

“...... 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

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Mainland)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: mùbùshídīng
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄨˋ ㄅㄨˋ ㄕˊ ㄉㄧㄥ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: mùbùshíhding
    • Wade–Giles: mu⁴-pu⁴-shih²-ting¹
    • Yale: mù-bù-shŕ-dīng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: muhbushyrding
    • Palladius: мубушидин (mubušidin)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mu⁵¹⁻⁵³ pu⁵¹ ʂʐ̩³⁵ tiŋ⁵⁵/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, Taiwan)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: mùbùshìdīng [Phonetic: mùbúshìdīng]
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄨˋ ㄅㄨˋ ㄕˋ ㄉㄧㄥ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: mùbùshìhding
    • Wade–Giles: mu⁴-pu⁴-shih⁴-ting¹
    • Yale: mù-bù-shr̀-dīng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: muhbushyhding
    • Palladius: мубушидин (mubušidin)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mu⁵¹ pu⁵¹⁻³⁵ ʂʐ̩⁵¹ tiŋ⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: muk⁶ bat¹ sik¹ ding¹
    • Yale: muhk bāt sīk dīng
    • Cantonese Pinyin: muk⁹ bat⁷ sik⁷ ding¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: mug⁶ bed¹ xig¹ ding¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mʊk̚² pɐt̚⁵ sɪk̚⁵ tɪŋ⁵⁵/

Idiom

(deprecated template usage) 目不識丁

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