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勿謂言之不預

简勿谓言之不预 · 繁勿謂言之不預

Mandarin · pinyin wù wèi yán zhī bù yù

(idiom) don't say you haven't been forewarned (threat used by the PRC in international diplomacy)

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Characters in this entry

勿: wù · must not, do not; without, never
謂: Look up this written character
言: yán · words, speech; speak, say; Kangxi radical 149
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
預: Look up this written character
谓: wèi · say, tell; call, name; be called
预: yù · prepare, arrange; in advance

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–2–1–4–4 · wu4 wei4 yan2 zhi1 bu4 yu4

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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.

勿謂言之不預 · find source passages ↗ · 勿谓言之不预 · find source passages ↗

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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) Don't say you haven't been forewarned.

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

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