DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

空穴來風未必無因

简空穴来风未必无因 · 繁空穴來風未必無因

Mandarin · pinyin kòng xué lái fēng wèi bì wú yīn

wind does not come from an empty cave without reason
there's no smoke without fire (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

空: kōng · empty, hollow, bare, deserted
穴: xué · cave, den, hole; Kangxi radical 116
來: lái · come, coming; return, returning
風: fēng · wind; air; manners, atmosphere; Kangxi radical 182
未: wèi · not yet; eighth earthly branch
必: bì · surely, most certainly; must
無: Look up this written character
因: yīn · cause, reason; by; because (of)
来: lái · come, coming; return, returning
风: fēng · wind; air; manners, atmosphere
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

4–2–2–1–4–4–2–1 · kong4 xue2 lai2 feng1 wei4 bi4 wu2 yin1

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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.

空穴來風未必無因 · find source passages ↗ · 空穴来风未必无因 · find source passages ↗

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