一問三不知

Chinese

		one; single; a one; single; a; (before verbs) as soon as, once; (before a noun) entire (family, etc.)	to ask	three	to not know; to have no idea of; to be ignorant of to not know; to have no idea of; to be ignorant of; to wonder if
trad. (一問三不知)		一	問	三	不知
simp. (一问三不知)		一	问	三	不知
Literally: “to reply ‘don't know’ whatever the question”.

Etymology

From Zuo Zhuan:

君子之謀也，始衷終皆舉之而後入焉。今我是三不知而入之，不亦難乎？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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君子之谋也，始衷终皆举之而后入焉。今我是三不知而入之，不亦难乎？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

Jūnzǐ zhī móu yě, shǐ zhōng zhōng jiē jǔ zhī ér hòu rù yān. Jīn wǒ shì sān bùzhī ér rù zhī, bù yì nán hū? [Pinyin]

A superior man, in forming his plans, considers everything ― the beginning, the middle and the end ― and then he enters on his course. But now I took mine, without knowing any one of these three; is it not hard?

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yī wèn sān bùzhī

  (Zhuyin): ㄧ ㄨㄣˋ ㄙㄢ ㄅㄨˋ ㄓ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jat¹ man⁶ saam¹ bat¹ zi¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yī wèn sān bùzhī [Phonetic: yí wèn sān bùzhī]
    • Zhuyin: ㄧ ㄨㄣˋ ㄙㄢ ㄅㄨˋ ㄓ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yi wùn san bùjhih
    • Wade–Giles: i¹ wên⁴ san¹ pu⁴-chih¹
    • Yale: yī wèn sān bù-jr̄
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: i wenn san bujy
    • Palladius: и вэнь сань бучжи (i vɛnʹ sanʹ bučži)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /i⁵⁵⁻³⁵ wən⁵¹ sän⁵⁵ pu⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: jat¹ man⁶ saam¹ bat¹ zi¹
    • Yale: yāt mahn sāam bāt jī
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jat⁷ man⁶ saam¹ bat⁷ dzi¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: yed¹ men⁶ sam¹ bed¹ ji¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɐt̚⁵ mɐn²² saːm⁵⁵ pɐt̚⁵ t͡siː⁵⁵/

Idiom

一問三不知

1. to answer “no idea” to every question; to have absolutely no idea of what is going on, or pretend to be unaware; completely ignorant