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無的放矢

简无的放矢 · 繁無的放矢

Mandarin · pinyin wú dì fàng shǐ

to shoot without aim (idiom); fig. to speak without thinking
firing blindly
to shoot in the air
a shot in the dark

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Characters in this entry

無: Look up this written character
的: de · possessive, adjectival suffix
放: fàng · put, release, free, liberate
矢: shǐ · arrow, dart; vow, swear
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

2–4–4–3 · wu2 di4 fang4 shi3

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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.

無的放矢 · find source passages ↗ · 无的放矢 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

mou4 dik1 fong3 ci2

Cantonese word readings for 無的放矢. 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

(idiomatic) to have no definite object in view; to have no definite objective in speech or action

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

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