Author: nlt

一問三不知 (Yī wèn sān bù zhī)(1) lit. to reply “don’t know” whatever the question (idiom)(2) fig. absolutely no idea of what’s going on(3) complete ignorance from beginning to end From link. Source: Wenzi (文子) said: “When a gentleman plans something, he considers its beginning, progress, and end, and only then will he act. Today I…

一網打盡 (Yī wǎng dǎ jìn)(1) lit. to catch everything in one net (idiom)(2) fig. to scoop up the whole lot(3) to capture them all in one go From https://dict.idioms.moe.edu.tw/bookView.jsp?ID=161 The founding sovereign of the Shang Dynasty, Cheng Tang (成湯), was a benevolent ruler. He felt that King Jie of Xia was a brutal tyrant, and…

一絲不苟 (Yī sī bù gǒu) (1) not one thread loose (idiom); strictly according to the rules(2) meticulous(3) not one hair out of place From https://dict.idioms.moe.edu.tw/bookView.jsp?ID=237 From the word “not out of place (不苟, e.g. careful, meticulous)”, one can trace its earliest appearance in “Rites of Zhou – Offices of Earth – On Taxation and Division…

一事無成 (Yī shì wú chéng) (1) to have achieved nothing(2) to be a total failure(3) to get nowhere From https://dict.idioms.moe.edu.tw/bookView.jsp?ID=834 The Tang Dynasty poets Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen were good friends and often exchanged poetry with one another to stay in touch. “Writing to Weizhi (e.g. Yuan Zhen) on New Year’s Eve (除夜寄微之)” was…

一日千里 (Yī rì qiān lǐ) From https://dict.idioms.moe.edu.tw/bookView.jsp?ID=67 The great philosopher Zhuangzi once wrote an essay “Autumn Floods (秋水)” to explain the principle of unity in all matters, where he listed many examples: although they all abdicated their thrones to others, Yao and Shun were able to rule as Emperors, while King Kuai [of Yan] perished;…