不知所云

bùzhī-suǒyún

idiom #18,963

Meanings

Literally 'don't know what is being said' - 云 here is the classical form of 说 (to say).

HSK 3

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.

HSK 4

这篇文章写得不知所云。

Zhè piān wénzhāng xiě de bùzhī-suǒyún.

This article is completely unintelligible.

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.

不 bù

知 zhī

所 suǒ

云 yún