DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

心照不宣

Mandarin · pinyin xīn zhào bù xuān

Characters in this entry

心: xīn · heart; mind, intelligence; soul; 5th lunar mansion, determinative star α Scorpii (Antares)
照: zhào · shine, illumine, reflect
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
宣: xuān · declare, announce, proclaim

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

1–4–4–1 · xin1 zhao4 bu4 xuan1

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

4character links

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

sam1 ziu3 bat1 syun1

Cantonese word readings for 心照不宣. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

sam1 ziu3 bat1 syun1

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

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

(idiomatic) to understand something but not voice it; to have a tacit understanding