無風三尺浪

简 无风三尺浪 · 繁 無風三尺浪
Mandarin · pinyin wú fēng sān chǐ làng

Meanings

  1. lit. large waves in windless conditions (idiom)
  2. fig. trouble arising unexpectedly
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Characters in this entry

無
Look up this written character
風
fēng · wind; air; manners, atmosphere; Kangxi radical 182
三
sān · three
尺
chǐ · Chinese measure approx. 'foot'
浪
làng · wave; wasteful, reckless
无
wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71
风
fēng · wind; air; manners, atmosphere
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–1–1–3–4 · wu2 feng1 san1 chi3 lang4

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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.

無風三尺浪 · find source passages ↗ · 无风三尺浪 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

mou4 fung1 saam1 cek3 long6

Cantonese word readings for 無風三尺浪. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

無風三尺浪 · wu2 feng1 san1 chi3 lang4
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 70,230
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record無風三尺浪 无风三尺浪 [wu2 feng1 san1 chi3 lang4] /lit. large waves in windless conditions (idiom)/fig. trouble arising unexpectedly/