DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

無以為報

简无以为报 · 繁無以為報

Mandarin · pinyin wú yǐ wéi bào

unable to return the favor

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

無: Look up this written character
以: yǐ · by means of; thereby, therefore; consider as; in order to
為: Look up this written character
報: Look up this written character
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71
为: wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be
报: bào · report, tell, announce

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–3–2–4 · wu2 yi3 wei2 bao4

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.

無以為報 · find source passages ↗ · 无以为报 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗