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DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

來者不善，善者不來

简 来者不善，善者不来 · 繁 來者不善，善者不來
Mandarin · pinyin lái zhě bù shàn , shàn zhě bù lái

Meanings

  1. He who comes is surely ill-intentioned, no-one well-meaning will come (idiom).
  2. Be careful not to trust foreigners.
  3. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts!
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Characters in this entry

來
lái · come, coming; return, returning
者
zhě · that which; he who; those who
不
bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
善
shàn · good, virtuous, charitable, kind
来
lái · come, coming; return, returning
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Entries containing 來者不善，善者不來 ↗Words written with 來 ↗Words written with 者 ↗Words written with 不 ↗Words written with 善 ↗Words written with 来 ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

loi4 ze2 bat1 sin6 ，sin6 ze2 bat1 loi4

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.

來者不善，善者不來 · lai2 zhe3 bu4 shan4 , shan4 zhe3 bu4 lai2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 7,716
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record來者不善，善者不來 来者不善，善者不来 [lai2 zhe3 bu4 shan4 , shan4 zhe3 bu4 lai2] /He who comes is surely ill-intentioned, no-one well-meaning will come (idiom)./Be careful not to trust foreigners./Beware of Greeks bearing gifts!/