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夜不閉戶

简夜不闭户 · 繁夜不閉戶

Mandarin · pinyin yè bù bì hù

lit. doors not locked at night (idiom); fig. stable society

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Characters in this entry

夜: yè · night, dark; in night; by night
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
閉: Look up this written character
戶: Look up this written character
闭: bì · shut, close; obstruct, block up
户: hù · door; family

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–4–4 · ye4 bu4 bi4 hu4

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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.

夜不閉戶 · find source passages ↗ · 夜不闭户 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

je6 bat1 bai3 wu6

Cantonese word readings for 夜不閉戶. 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

(figurative) The society is peaceful and thieves are gone.

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

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