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無由

简无由 · 繁無由

Mandarin · pinyin wú yóu

to be unable (to do sth)
no reason to ...
without rhyme or reason

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Characters in this entry

無: Look up this written character
由: yóu · cause, reason; from
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

2–2 · wu2 you2

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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.

無由 · find source passages ↗ · 无由 · 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.

adv

(literary) to have no way of; to not be in a position to

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

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