不 敢 越 雷 池 一 步

bù gǎn yuè Léi chí yī bùdictionary entry

dare not go one step beyond the prescribed limit

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-c2590235b23cdb03. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

不敢越雷池一步 不敢越雷池一步 [bu4 gan3 yue4 Lei2 chi2 yi1 bu4] /dare not go one step beyond the prescribed limit/

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.

不
bù
no / not so / (bound form) not / un-
敢
gǎn
to dare / daring / (polite) may I venture
越
yuè
to exceed / to climb over / to surpass / the more... the more
Yuè
generic word for peoples or states of south China or south Asia at different historical periods / abbr. for Vietnam 越南
雷
léi
thunder / (bound form) (military) mine, as in 地雷[dì léi] land mine / (coll.) to shock / to stun / to astound / (Tw) (coll.) spoiler / (Tw) (coll.) to reveal plot details to (sb)
Léi
surname Lei
池
chí
pond / reservoir / moat
Chí
surname Chi
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
步
bù
a step / a pace / walk / march / stages in a process / situation
Bù
surname Bu

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.