DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

不祥之兆

Mandarin · pinyin bù xiáng zhī zhào

(idiom) bad omen

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
祥: xiáng · good luck, good omen; happiness
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
兆: zhào · omen; million; mega; also trillion. China = million; Japan and Taiwan = trillion

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–2–1–4 · bu4 xiang2 zhi1 zhao4

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.

不祥之兆 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) ill or evil omen; bad sign

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

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