無源之水，無本之木
Chinese
| without a source | 's; him/her/it; this | water; river | 's; him/her/it; this | tree; wood | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| trad. (無源之水，無本之木) | 無源 | 之 | 水 | ， | 無本 | 之 | 木 | |
| simp. (无源之水，无本之木) | 无源 | 之 | 水 | ， | 无本 | 之 | 木 | |
| Literally: “water without a source, a tree without roots”. | ||||||||
Pronunciation
- Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)+
- Hanyu Pinyin: wúyuán zhī shuǐ, wúběn zhī mù
- Zhuyin: ㄨˊ ㄩㄢˊ ㄓ ㄕㄨㄟˇ , ㄨˊ ㄅㄣˇ ㄓ ㄇㄨˋ
- Tongyong Pinyin: wúyuán jhih shuěi, wúběn jhih mù
- Wade–Giles: wu2-yüan2 chih1 shui3, wu2-pên3 chih1 mu4
- Yale: wú-ywán jr̄ shwěi-, wú-běn jr̄ mù
- Gwoyeu Romatzyh: wuyuan jy shoei, wubeen jy muh
- Palladius: уюань чжи шуй, убэнь чжи му (ujuanʹ čži šuj, ubɛnʹ čži mu)
- Sinological IPA (key): /u³⁵ ɥɛn³⁵ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ ʂu̯eɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ u³⁵ pən²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ mu⁵¹/
- (Standard Chinese)+
Idiom
無源之水，無本之木
- (figuratively) baseless
- 理性的東西所以靠得住，正是由於它來源於感性，否則理性的東西就成了無源之水，無本之木，而只是主觀自生的靠不住的東西了。 [MSC, trad.]
- From: 1937, 毛澤東 (Mao Zedong), 《實踐論》 (On Practice), 《毛澤東選集》. English translation based on the Foreign Languages Press edition
- Lǐxìng de dōngxi suǒyǐ kào de zhù, zhèngshì yóuyú tā láiyuán yú gǎnxìng, fǒuzé lǐxìng de dōngxi jiù chéng le wúyuán zhī shuǐ ， wúběn zhī mù, ér zhǐshì zhǔguān zìshēng de kào bu zhù de dōngxi le. [Pinyin]
- The rational is reliable precisely because it has its source in sense perceptions, other wise it would be like water without a source, a tree without roots, subjective, self-engendered and unreliable.
理性的东西所以靠得住，正是由于它来源于感性，否则理性的东西就成了无源之水，无本之木，而只是主观自生的靠不住的东西了。 [MSC, simp.]