不到火候不揭鍋

简 不到火候不揭锅 · 繁 不到火候不揭鍋
Mandarin · pinyin bù dào huǒ hòu bù jiē guō

Meanings

  1. don't act until the time is ripe (idiom)
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Characters in this entry

不
bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
到
dào · go to, arrive, been to
火
huǒ · fire, flame; burn; anger, rage
候
hòu · wait; expect; visit; greet
揭
jiē · raise, lift up; surname
鍋
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锅
guō · cooking-pot, saucepan
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–4–3–4–4–1–1 · bu4 dao4 huo3 hou4 bu4 jie1 guo1

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不到火候不揭鍋 · bu4 dao4 huo3 hou4 bu4 jie1 guo1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 2,257
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record不到火候不揭鍋 不到火候不揭锅 [bu4 dao4 huo3 hou4 bu4 jie1 guo1] /don't act until the time is ripe (idiom)/