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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

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: Look up this written character
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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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.

不到火候不揭鍋 · find source passages ↗ · 不到火候不揭锅 · find source passages ↗

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