水 清 无 鱼

shuǐ qīng wú yúdictionary entry

lit. water that is too clean holds no fish (idiom) / fig. one who is too severe has no friends

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-6b2c458f7058a906. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

水清無魚 水清无鱼 [shui3 qing1 wu2 yu2] /lit. water that is too clean holds no fish (idiom)/fig. one who is too severe has no friends/

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

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 水清無魚

水
shuǐ
water / (after a name) ... River / to swim (used mostly in 會水|会水[huì shuǐ] and 水性[shuǐ xìng]) / (coll.) lacking in substance / shoddy / (bound form) additional cost / extra income / classifier for washings of a garment
Shuǐ
surname Shui / Shui ethnic group
清
qīng
(of water etc) clear / clean / quiet / still / pure / uncorrupted / clear / distinct / to clear / to settle (accounts)
Qīng
Qing (Wade-Giles: Ch'ing) dynasty of China (1644–1911) / surname Qing
无
mó
used in 南無|南无[nā mó]
wú
not to have / no / none / not / to lack / un- / -less
鱼
yú
fish (CL:條|条[tiáo],尾[wěi]) / used in the names of various aquatic animals that are not fish (including abalone 鮑魚|鲍鱼[bào yú], alligators and crocodiles 鱷魚|鳄鱼[è yú] and octopi 章魚|章鱼[zhāng yú])
Yú
surname Yu

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.