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一言既出，驷马难追

yī yán jì chū , sì mǎ nán zhuīdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
lit. once said, a team of horses cannot unsay it (idiom) / a promise must be kept
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-9227f6961f19a126. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

一言既出，駟馬難追 一言既出，驷马难追 [yi1 yan2 ji4 chu1 , si4 ma3 nan2 zhui1] /lit. once said, a team of horses cannot unsay it (idiom); a promise must be kept/

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: 一言既出，駟馬難追

  • 一
    yī

    one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire / whole / all / throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yāo] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit

  • 言
    yán

    words / speech / to say / to talk

  • 既
    jì

    already / since / both... (and...)

  • 出
    chū

    to go out / to come out / to arise / to occur / to produce / to yield / to go beyond / to exceed / (used after a verb to indicate an outward direction or a positive result) / classifier for dramas, plays, operas etc

  • 驷
    sì

    team of 4 horses

  • 马
    mǎ

    horse / CL:匹[pǐ] / horse or cavalry piece in Chinese chess / knight in Western chess

    Mǎ

    surname Ma / abbr. for Malaysia 馬來西亞|马来西亚[Mǎ lái xī yà]

  • 难
    nán

    difficult (to...) / problem / difficulty / difficult / not good

    nàn

    disaster / distress / to scold

  • 追
    duī

    to sculpt / to carve / musical instrument (old)

    zhuī

    to chase / to pursue / to look into / to investigate / to reminisce / to recall / to court (one's beloved) / to binge-watch (a TV drama) / retroactively / posthumously

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.