不得而知

bùdé'érzhī

idiom HSK 7 #21,995

Meanings

1 unable to find out; unknown
2 impossible to know

Characters

to be able to; to get

and then (literary connector)

Literally 'unable to then know' — cannot obtain the knowledge.

Examples

他为什么离开，至今不得而知。

Tā wèishénme líkāi, zhìjīn bùdé'érzhī.

Why he left remains unknown to this day.

真相如何，外人不得而知。

Zhēnxiàng rúhé, wàirén bùdé'érzhī.

What the truth is, outsiders have no way of knowing.

这笔钱去了哪里，不得而知。

Zhè bǐ qián qù le nǎlǐ, bùdé'érzhī.

Where this money went is unknown.

Tips

register

不得而知 is a literary, formal expression commonly seen in written Chinese, news reports, and historical narratives. In casual speech, you'd just say 不知道 or 搞不清楚.

Stroke Order

不 bù

得 dé

而 ér

知 zhī