DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

不聞不問

简不闻不问 · 繁不聞不問

Mandarin · pinyin bù wén bù wèn

not to hear, not to question (idiom)
to show no interest in sth
uncritical
not in the least concerned

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
聞: Look up this written character
問: wèn · ask (about), inquire after
闻: wén · hear; smell; make known; news
问: wèn · ask about, inquire after

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–4–4 · bu4 wen2 bu4 wen4

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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.

不聞不問 · find source passages ↗ · 不闻不问 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bat1 man4 bat1 man6

Cantonese word readings for 不聞不問. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) to not bother to ask or to listen; to show no interest in; to be indifferent to

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

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