DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

水洩不通

简水泄不通 · 繁水洩不通

Mandarin · pinyin shuǐ xiè bù tōng

(lit.) not one drop can trickle through (idiom)
(fig.) (of crowds, traffic etc) impenetrable

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

水: shuǐ · water, liquid, lotion, juice
洩: Look up this written character
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
通: tōng · pass through; common; communicate
泄: xiè · leak; vent; flow; reveal

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–4–4–1 · shui3 xie4 bu4 tong1

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.

水洩不通 · find source passages ↗ · 水泄不通 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) densely packed; extremely crowded; impenetrable

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack