大胆不敵 daitanfuteki Fearless

A word that praises nerve: 大胆 (daitan) is boldness, having the nerve for what ordinary people shrink from, and 不敵 (futeki) is no rival, the word for someone so strong that no one can stand against them, and by extension someone who fears no one.

Together they praise nerve on both sides of the law: a father on the puppet stage presents his son to a Ming princess as born daitanfuteki, a novel gives the word to a lone rider who resolves to ride into the enemy camp, and it is said as well of the villain of a ghost story and of a burglar who dozes off in the bed he has robbed. That is the edge a person who chooses it should feel: this is nerve with swagger in it, I fear no one, where 不動心 (fudōshin) is stillness and 勇気 (yūki) is courage.

Fearless is the English Hepburn's dictionary gave 不敵 in 1867, and daring; audacious beside it keeps the edge.

大胆不敵 is composed of the words 大胆 (read daitan) meaning "fearless; bold; daring; audacious" and 不敵 (read futeki) meaning "daring; fearless; bold; intrepid".

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