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沒有不透風的牆

简没有不透风的墙 · 繁沒有不透風的牆

Mandarin · pinyin méi yǒu bù tòu fēng de qiáng

(idiom) no secret can be kept forever

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Characters in this entry

沒: méi · not, have not, none; to drown, sink
有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
透: tòu · penetrate, pass through
風: fēng · wind; air; manners, atmosphere; Kangxi radical 182
的: de · possessive, adjectival suffix
牆: Look up this written character
没: méi · not, have not, none; drown, sink
风: fēng · wind; air; manners, atmosphere
墙: qiáng · wall

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

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Mandarin tones

2–3–4–4–1–5–2 · mei2 you3 bu4 tou4 feng1 de5 qiang2

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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.

沒有不透風的牆 · find source passages ↗ · 没有不透风的墙 · 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.

proverb

(figurative) no secret can be kept forever

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

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