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言而無信

简 言而无信 · 繁 言而無信
Mandarin · pinyin yán ér wú xìn

Meanings

  1. (idiom) untrustworthy; not true to one's word
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Characters in this entry

言
yán · words, speech; speak, say; Kangxi radical 149
而
ér · and; and then; and yet; but; Kangxi radical 126
無
Look up this written character
信
xìn · trust, believe; letter
无
wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Entries containing 言而無信 ↗Words written with 言 ↗Words written with 而 ↗Words written with 無 ↗Words written with 信 ↗Words written with 无 ↗

Mandarin tones

2–2–2–4 · yan2 er2 wu2 xin4

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jin4 ji4 mou4 seon3

Cantonese word readings for 言而無信. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

jin4 ji4 mou4 seon3

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

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

  1. (idiomatic) to fail to keep faith; to go back on one's word; to break one's promise

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack