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不聲不響

简不声不响 · 繁不聲不響

Mandarin · pinyin bù shēng bù xiǎng

(idiom) wordless; silent; taciturn; without speaking

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
聲: shēng · sound, voice, noise; tone; music
響: Look up this written character
声: shēng · sound, voice, noise; tone; music
响: xiǎng · make sound, make noise; sound

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–4–3 · bu4 sheng1 bu4 xiang3

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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.

不聲不響 · find source passages ↗ · 不声不响 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bat1 sing1 bat1 hoeng2

Cantonese word readings for 不聲不響. 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) quiet; silent; without speaking; taciturn

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

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