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出其不意

Mandarin · pinyin chū qí bù yì

to do sth when least expected (idiom); to catch sb off guard

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Characters in this entry

出: chū · go out, send out; stand; produce
其: qí · his, her, its, their; that
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
意: yì · thought, idea, opinion; think

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–4–4 · chu1 qi2 bu4 yi4

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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.

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ceot1 kei4 bat1 ji3

Cantonese word readings for 出其不意. 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 take somebody by surprise; to catch somebody unawares

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

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