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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

不為人知

/pu⁵¹ weɪ̯³⁵ ɻən³⁵ ʈ͡ʂɻ̩⁵⁵/
not known by people; unknown
  • 不爲人知
  • 不为人知
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Origin

The phrase 不為人知 is formed by combining four characters. The character 不 means not, un-, in-, il-, im-, or ir-. The character 為, which is the simplified form of 爲, means to do, to accomplish, or to take action; it contains the components 又 (again; once more) and 象 (elephant).

The character 人 means man, person, or people. The character 知 means to know, to understand, or to comprehend. The character 知 is composed of the components 大 (of great size; big; large; huge), 口 (mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity), and 子 (child; offspring; descendant).

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

  • characterChinese不 “not; un-; in-; il-; im-; ir-”
  • characterChinese為 “to do; to accomplish; to take action”
    • simplified fromChinese爲
    • ideaChinese又 “again; once more”
    • ideaChinese象 “elephant (Classifier: 頭／头 m; 隻／只 m c mn)”
  • characterChinese人 “man; person; people (Classifier: 個／个 m c; 隻／只 h)”
  • characterChinese知 “to know; to understand; to comprehend”
    • ideaChinese大 “of great size; big; large; huge”
    • ideaChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”
    • ideaChinese子 “child; offspring; descendant”
Wiktionary etymology text

No etymology text yet. The graph shows what is known from the sources.

Meanings

phrase
  1. not known by people; unknown

The Anatomy of Being Unknown

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Sources

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0