言 者 无 罪，闻 者 足 戒

yán zhě wú zuì , wén zhě zú jièdictionary entry

don't blame the speaker, take note of his warning (idiom); an exhortation to speak one's mind without fear of reprisals, and with the expectation of being taken seriously

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-b5343cecf17006de. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

言者無罪，聞者足戒 言者无罪，闻者足戒 [yan2 zhe3 wu2 zui4 , wen2 zhe3 zu2 jie4] /don't blame the speaker, take note of his warning (idiom); an exhortation to speak one's mind without fear of reprisals, and with the expectation of being taken seriously/

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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: 言者無罪，聞者足戒

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.