年少無知

简 年少无知 · 繁 年少無知
Mandarin · pinyin nián shào wú zhī

Meanings

  1. (idiom) young and inexperienced; unsophisticated
Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

年
nián · year; new-years; person's age
少
shǎo · few, less, inadequate
無
Look up this written character
知
zhī · know, perceive, comprehend
无
wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–4–2–1 · nian2 shao4 wu2 zhi1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links
Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

年少無知 · find source passages ↗ · 年少无知 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗