風馬牛不相及
简 风马牛不相及 · 繁 風馬牛不相及Meanings
- to be completely unrelated to one another (idiom)
- irrelevant
Characters in this entry
- 風
- fēng · wind; air; manners, atmosphere; Kangxi radical 182
- 馬
- Look up this written character
- 牛
- niú · cow, ox, bull; Kangxi radical 93; 9th lunar mansion, determinative star β Capricorni (Dabih)
- 不
- bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
- 相
- xiāng · mutual, reciprocal, each other
- 及
- jí · extend; reach; come up to; and
- 风
- fēng · wind; air; manners, atmosphere
- 马
- mǎ · horse; surname; Kangxi radical 187
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
1–3–2–4–1–2 · feng1 ma3 niu2 bu4 xiang1 ji2
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
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.
風馬牛不相及 · find source passages ↗ · 风马牛不相及 · find source passages ↗
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
fung1 maa5 ngau4 bat1 soeng1 kap6
Cantonese word readings for 風馬牛不相及. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack
Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
phrase
- (of things) to have no relationship with each other whatsoever; to be totally irrelevant; apples and oranges
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack