不知所云

bùzhīsuǒyún

idiom #18,963

Meanings

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

Characters

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 bùzhīsuǒyún.

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 bùzhīsuǒyún.

This article is completely unintelligible.

Tips

history

This idiom comes from Zhuge Liang's (诸葛亮) 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