DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

既往不咎

Mandarin · pinyin jì wǎng bù jiù

to forget and not bear recriminations (idiom); to let bygones be bygones
There is no point in crying over spilt milk.

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Characters in this entry

既: jì · already; de facto; since; then
往: wǎng · go, depart; past, formerly
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
咎: jiù · fault, defect; error, mistake

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–4–4 · ji4 wang3 bu4 jiu4

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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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gei3 wong5 bat1 gau3

Cantonese word readings for 既往不咎. 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 let bygones be bygones

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

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