不分皂白

Mandarin · pinyin bù fēn zào bái

Meanings

  1. not distinguishing black or white (idiom); not to distinguish between right and wrong
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Characters in this entry

不
bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
分
fēn · divide; small unit of time etc.
皂
zào · soap; black; menial servant
白
bái · white; pure, unblemished; bright
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–1–4–2 · bu4 fen1 zao4 bai2

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Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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不分皂白 · bu4 fen1 zao4 bai2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 2,240
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record不分皂白 不分皂白 [bu4 fen1 zao4 bai2] /not distinguishing black or white (idiom); not to distinguish between right and wrong/