事 不 过 三

shì bù guò sāndictionary entry

(idiom) a thing should not be attempted more than three times; don't repeat the same mistake again and again / (idiom) bad things don't happen more than three times

Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-5a7156ffe48df4b7. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

事不過三 事不过三 [shi4 bu4 guo4 san1] /(idiom) a thing should not be attempted more than three times; don't repeat the same mistake again and again/(idiom) bad things don't happen more than three times/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

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Other forms in these source records: 事不過三

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.