不可知

Chinese

		not; no	to be able to be known; to be able to deduce that; to be knowable
simp. and trad. (不可知)		不	可知

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): bùkězhī

(Zhuyin): ㄅㄨˋ ㄎㄜˇ ㄓ
Cantonese (Jyutping): bat¹ ho² zi¹

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: bùkězhī
  - Zhuyin: ㄅㄨˋ ㄎㄜˇ ㄓ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: bùkějhih
  - Wade–Giles: pu⁴-kʻo³-chih¹
  - Yale: bù-kě-jr̄
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: bukeejy
  - Palladius: букэчжи (bukɛčži)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /pu⁵¹ kʰɤ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: bat¹ ho² zi¹
  - Yale: bāt hó jī
  - Cantonese Pinyin: bat⁷ ho² dzi¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: bed¹ ho² ji¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /pɐt̚⁵ hɔː³⁵ t͡siː⁵⁵/

Middle Chinese: pjuw|pjuwX|pjut khaX trje

Rime
Character	不	不	不	可	知
Reading #	1/3	2/3	3/3	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	幫 (1)	幫 (1)	幫 (1)	溪 (29)	知 (9)
Final (韻)	尤 (136)	尤 (136)	物 (60)	歌 (94)	支 (11)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Rising (X)	Checked (Ø)	Rising (X)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open	Closed	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	III	III	I	III
Fanqie	甫鳩切	方久切	分勿切	枯我切	陟移切
Baxter	pjuw	pjuwX	pjut	khaX	trje
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/pɨu/	/pɨu^X/	/pɨut̚/	/kʰɑ^X/	/ʈiᴇ/
Pan Wuyun	/piu/	/piu^X/	/piut̚/	/kʰɑ^X/	/ʈiɛ/
Shao Rongfen	/piəu/	/piəu^X/	/piuət̚/	/kʰɑ^X/	/ȶjɛ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/puw/	/puw^X/	/put̚/	/kʰa^X/	/ʈiə̆/
Li Rong	/piu/	/piu^X/	/piuət̚/	/kʰɑ^X/	/ȶie/
Wang Li	/pĭəu/	/pĭəu^X/	/pĭuət̚/	/kʰɑ^X/	/ȶǐe/
Bernhard Karlgren	/pi̯ə̯u/	/pi̯ə̯u^X/	/pi̯uət̚/	/kʰɑ^X/	/ȶie̯/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	fōu	fǒu	fu	kě	zhī
Expected Cantonese Reflex	fau¹	fau²	fat¹	ho²	zi¹

Adjective

不可知

unknowable; inscrutable; inconceivable
- 惟麟也不可知。不可知，則其謂之不祥也亦宜。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
  惟麟也不可知。不可知，则其谓之不祥也亦宜。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
  From: c. 812, Han Yu (韓愈), On the Appearance of the Lin (《獲麟解》)
  Wéi lín yě bùkězhī. Bùkězhī, zé qí wèi zhī bùxiáng yě yì yí. [Pinyin]
  As for the lin, there is nothing by which one may know its identity. Being unknowable, the lin may be properly said to be a creature of ill fortune.
agnostic

Antonyms

(antonym(s) of “unknowable”): 可知 (kězhī)

Derived terms

不可知論 / 不可知论 (bùkězhīlùn)

Japanese

Kanji in this term
不	可	知
ふ Grade: 4	か Grade: 5	ち Grade: 2
on'yomi

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) ふかち [fùkáꜜchì] (Nakadaka – [2])^[1]
IPA^(key): [ɸɯ̟ka̠t͡ɕi]

Noun

不(ふ)可(か)知(ち) • (fukachi)

unknowable

References

^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN