DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

滴水不漏

Mandarin · pinyin dī shuǐ bù lòu

lit. not one drop of water can leak out
watertight
rigorous (argument)

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

滴: dī · drip; drop of water
水: shuǐ · water, liquid, lotion, juice
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
漏: lòu · leak, drip; funnel; hour glass

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–3–4–4 · di1 shui3 bu4 lou4

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.

滴水不漏 · 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) completely rigorous; watertight; very tight

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

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