水 泄 不 通

shuǐ xiè bù tōngdictionary entry

(lit.) not one drop can trickle through (idiom) / (fig.) (of crowds, traffic etc) impenetrable

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-f6bb90be2af526a5. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

水洩不通 水泄不通 [shui3 xie4 bu4 tong1] /(lit.) not one drop can trickle through (idiom)/(fig.) (of crowds, traffic etc) impenetrable/

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: 水洩不通

水
shuǐ
water / (after a name) ... River / to swim (used mostly in 會水|会水[huì shuǐ] and 水性[shuǐ xìng]) / (coll.) lacking in substance / shoddy / (bound form) additional cost / extra income / classifier for washings of a garment
Shuǐ
surname Shui / Shui ethnic group
泄
xiè
(bound form) to leak out / to discharge / (fig.) to divulge
不
bù
no / not so / (bound form) not / un-
通
tōng
to go through / to know well / (suffix) expert / to connect / to communicate / open / to clear / classifier for letters, telegrams, phone calls etc
tòng
classifier for an activity, taken in its entirety (tirade of abuse, stint of music playing, bout of drinking etc)

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.