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不知所云

bùzhī-suǒyún
idiom #18,963

Meanings

  1. 1 to not know what someone is talking about
  2. 2 to be unintelligible
  3. 3 to make no sense

Characters

不
bù
not
知
zhī
to know
所
suǒ
that which
云
yún
to say (classical)
Literally 'don't know what is being said' - 云 here is the classical form of 说 (to say).

Examples

他说了半天，大家都不知所云。
Tā shuō le bàntiān, dàjiā dōu bùzhī-suǒyún.
He talked for ages, but nobody could understand what he was saying.
这篇文章写得不知所云。
Zhè piān wénzhāng xiě de bùzhī-suǒyún.
This article is completely unintelligible.

Tips

history
This idiom comes from 诸葛亮's famous memorial 出师表, where he humbly wrote 不知所云 to express that his words may not make sense, as a form of modesty.

Stroke Order

不 bù
知 zhī
所 suǒ
云 yún