臭不可聞

简 臭不可闻 · 繁 臭不可聞
Mandarin · pinyin chòu bù kě wén

Meanings

  1. (idiom) to stink to high heaven
  2. (fig.) (idiom) disgraceful; disgusting
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Characters in this entry

臭
chòu · smell, stink, emit foul odor
不
bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
可
kě · may, can, -able; possibly
聞
Look up this written character
闻
wén · hear; smell; make known; news
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–4–3–2 · chou4 bu4 ke3 wen2

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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.

臭不可聞 · find source passages ↗ · 臭不可闻 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

cau3 bat1 ho2 man4

Cantonese word readings for 臭不可聞. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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

臭不可聞 · chou4 bu4 ke3 wen2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 92,167
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record臭不可聞 臭不可闻 [chou4 bu4 ke3 wen2] /(idiom) to stink to high heaven/(fig.) (idiom) disgraceful; disgusting/