既往不咎

jìwǎng-bùjiù

idiom #27,812

Meanings

1 to let bygones be bygones
2 to forgive past wrongs
3 not to pursue past offenses

Characters

past; gone by; to go toward

to blame; to punish; fault

Examples

只要你改过自新，我们既往不咎。

Zhǐyào nǐ gǎiguò-zìxīn, wǒmen jìwǎng-bùjiù.

As long as you turn over a new leaf, we will let bygones be bygones.

他决定对员工的过失既往不咎，给他们一次改正的机会。

Tā juédìng duì yuángōng de guòshī jìwǎng-bùjiù, gěi tāmen yī cì gǎizhèng de jīhuì.

He decided to forgive his employees' past mistakes and give them a chance to correct themselves.

Tips

history

This idiom appears in the Analects of Confucius (论语). Confucius used 成事不说，遂事不谏，既往不咎 to say that completed deeds need not be discussed, past actions need not be counseled against, and bygones should be let go. It became a classic expression of forgiveness.

memory

既 = already, 往 = past/gone, 不 = not, 咎 = blame/punish. 'Already gone, not to blame' — what's in the past stays in the past.

Stroke Order

既 jì

往 wǎng

不 bù

咎 jiù