一問三不知

Chinese

	one; single; a one; single; a; (before verbs) as soon as, once; (before a noun) entire (family, etc.)	to ask	three	to not know; to have no idea of; to be ignorant of to not know; to have no idea of; to be ignorant of; to wonder if
trad. (一問三不知)	一	問	三	不知
simp. (一问三不知)	一	问	三	不知
Literally: “to reply ‘don't know’ whatever the question”.

Etymology

From Zuo Zhuan:

君子之謀也，始衷終皆舉之而後入焉。今我是三不知而入之，不亦難乎？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]

君子之谋也，始衷终皆举之而后入焉。今我是三不知而入之，不亦难乎？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

Jūnzǐ zhī móu yě, shǐ zhōng zhōng jiē jǔ zhī ér hòu rù yān. Jīn wǒ shì sān bùzhī ér rù zhī, bù yì nán hū? [Pinyin]

A superior man, in forming his plans, considers everything ― the beginning, the middle and the end ― and then he enters on his course. But now I took mine, without knowing any one of these three; is it not hard?

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): yī wèn sān bùzhī
(Zhuyin): ㄧㄨㄣˋ ㄙㄢㄅㄨˋ ㄓ
Cantonese (Jyutping): jat¹ man⁶ saam¹ bat¹ zi¹

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: yī wèn sān bùzhī [Phonetic: yí wèn sān bùzhī]
  - Zhuyin: ㄧㄨㄣˋ ㄙㄢㄅㄨˋ ㄓ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: yi wùn san bùjhih
  - Wade–Giles: i¹ wên⁴ san¹ pu⁴-chih¹
  - Yale: yī wèn sān bù-jr̄
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: i wenn san bujy
  - Palladius: и вэнь сань бучжи (i vɛnʹ sanʹ bučži)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /i⁵⁵⁻³⁵ wən⁵¹ sän⁵⁵ pu⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: jat¹ man⁶ saam¹ bat¹ zi¹
  - Yale: yāt mahn sāam bāt jī
  - Cantonese Pinyin: jat⁷ man⁶ saam¹ bat⁷ dzi¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: yed¹ men⁶ sam¹ bed¹ ji¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɐt̚⁵ mɐn²² saːm⁵⁵ pɐt̚⁵ t͡siː⁵⁵/

Idiom

一問三不知

to answer “no idea” to every question; to have absolutely no idea of what is going on, or pretend to be unaware; completely ignorant