DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

言者無罪，聞者足戒

简言者无罪，闻者足戒 · 繁言者無罪，聞者足戒

Mandarin · pinyin yán zhě wú zuì , wén zhě zú jiè

don't blame the speaker, take note of his warning (idiom); an exhortation to speak one's mind without fear of reprisals, and with the expectation of being taken seriously

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

言: yán · words, speech; speak, say; Kangxi radical 149
者: zhě · that which; he who; those who
無: Look up this written character
罪: zuì · crime, sin, vice; evil; hardship
聞: Look up this written character
足: zú · foot; attain, satisfy, enough; Kangxi radical 156
戒: jiè · warn, caution, admonish
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71
闻: wén · hear; smell; make known; news

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Connected dictionary

7character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

言者無罪，聞者足戒 · find source passages ↗ · 言者无罪，闻者足戒 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗