摸 不 着 边

mō bu zháo biāndictionary entry

can't make head or tail of

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-8d5ca6eb53212e17. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

摸不著邊摸不着边 [mo1 bu5 zhao2 bian1] /can't make head or tail of/

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: 摸不著邊

摸
mō
to feel with the hand / to touch / to stroke / to grope / to steal / to abstract
mó
See the full entry for source details.
不
bù
no / not so / (bound form) not / un-
着
zhāo
a move in chess (Taiwan pr. [zhuó]) / trick / tactic / (dialect) okay / all right / (dialect) to put in / to add
zháo
to touch / to come in contact with / to feel / to be affected by / to catch fire / to burn / (coll.) to fall asleep / (after a verb) hitting the mark / succeeding in
zhe
aspect particle indicating action in progress or ongoing state
zhuó
to wear (clothes) / to contact / to use / to apply
边
biān
side / edge / margin / border / boundary / CL:個|个[gè] / simultaneously
bian
suffix of a noun of locality

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.