DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

無心插柳

简无心插柳 · 繁無心插柳

Mandarin · pinyin wú xīn chā liǔ

(idiom) (of a good outcome) unanticipated
serendipitous
fortuitous

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Characters in this entry

無: Look up this written character
心: xīn · heart; mind, intelligence; soul; 5th lunar mansion, determinative star α Scorpii (Antares)
插: chā · insert, stick into; plant
柳: liǔ · willow tree; pleasure; 24th lunar mansion, determinative star δ Hydrae
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–1–3 · wu2 xin1 cha1 liu3

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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.

無心插柳 · find source passages ↗ · 无心插柳 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

mou4 sam1 caap3 lau5

Cantonese word readings for 無心插柳. 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

(abbreviation, alt-of, idiomatic) short for 無心插柳柳成蔭 /无心插柳柳成荫 (wúxīn chā liǔ liǔ chéng yìn)

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

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