人而無信，不知其可

Chinese
man; person; people
 
and; as well as; but (not); yet (not); (shows causal relation); (shows change of state); (shows contrast)
 not have
 
letter; true; to believe; sign; evidence
 not; no to know; to be aware
 
his; her; its; theirs; that; such; it (refers to sth preceding it)
 
can; may; able to; certain(ly); to suit; (particle used for emphasis)
trad. (人而無信，不知其可) 人 而 無 信 ， 不 知 其 可
simp. (人而无信，不知其可) 人 而 无 信 ， 不 知 其 可

Etymology

A quote from the Analects of Confucius.

Literally: If a man has no honesty, it cannot be known what he can be suitable for.

Pronunciation
  • Mandarin
    (Pinyin): rén ér wú xìn, bù zhī qí kě
    (Zhuyin): ㄖㄣˊ ㄦˊ ㄨˊ ㄒㄧㄣˋ, ㄅㄨˋ ㄓ ㄑㄧˊ ㄎㄜˇ
  • Mandarin
    • (Standard Chinese)+
      • Pinyin: rén ér wú xìn, bù zhī qí kě
      • Zhuyin: ㄖㄣˊ ㄦˊ ㄨˊ ㄒㄧㄣˋ, ㄅㄨˋ ㄓ ㄑㄧˊ ㄎㄜˇ
      • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ren erl wu shinn, bu jy chyi kee
      • IPA (key): /ʐən³⁵ ˀɤɻ³⁵ u³⁵ ɕin⁵¹⁻⁵³ pu⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ t͡ɕʰi³⁵ kʰɤ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/

Proverb

人而無信，不知其可

  1. A man without honesty is capable of nothing.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.