可想而知

kěxiǎng'érzhī

idiom HSK 7-9 #27,147

Meanings

1 as you can imagine; it goes without saying
2 one can well imagine

Characters

to think; to imagine

Literally 'can imagine and then know' - something so obvious you can figure it out without being told.

Examples

HSK 4

他一个人做三个人的工作，压力之大可想而知。

Tā yígè rén zuò sān gè rén de gōngzuò, yālì zhī dà kěxiǎng'érzhī.

He does the work of three people - you can imagine the pressure.

HSK 6

没有准备就上台演讲，结果可想而知。

Méiyǒu zhǔnbèi jiù shàngtái yǎnjiǎng, jiéguǒ kěxiǎng'érzhī.

Going on stage to give a speech without preparation - the result is easy to imagine.

Tips

grammar

可想而知 usually comes at the end of a sentence or clause, after presenting the situation. The pattern is: [situation], 可想而知. It's a neat rhetorical device - you state the cause and let the listener fill in the obvious conclusion.

Stroke Order

可 kě

想 xiǎng

而 ér

知 zhī