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唯恐天下不乱

wéi kǒng tiān xià bù luàndictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
to wish for the whole world to be in chaos (idiom)
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-bdb839bf3c89a722. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

唯恐天下不亂 唯恐天下不乱 [wei2 kong3 tian1 xia4 bu4 luan4] /to wish for the whole world to be in chaos (idiom)/

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: 唯恐天下不亂

  • 唯
    wéi

    only / alone / -ism (in Chinese, a prefix, often combined with a suffix such as 主義|主义[zhǔ yì] or 論|论[lùn], e.g. 唯理論|唯理论[wéi lǐ lùn], rationalism)

    wěi

    yes

  • 恐
    kǒng

    afraid / frightened / to fear

  • 天
    tiān

    day / sky / heaven

  • 下
    xià

    down / downwards / below / lower / later / next (week etc) / second (of two parts) / to decline / to go down / to arrive at (a decision, conclusion etc) / measure word to show the frequency of an action

  • 不
    bù

    no / not so / (bound form) not / un-

  • 乱
    luàn

    in confusion or disorder / in a confused state of mind / disorder / upheaval / riot / illicit sexual relations / to throw into disorder / to mix up / indiscriminate / random / arbitrary

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.