DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

不知何故

Mandarin · pinyin bù zhī hé gù

somehow

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
知: zhī · know, perceive, comprehend
何: hé · what, why, where, which, how
故: gù · ancient, old; reason, because

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–1–2–4 · bu4 zhi1 he2 gu4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

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

Read this spelling in Classical texts

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.

不知何故 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗