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无恶不作 (wú è bù zuò) — (idiom) to stop at nothing in committing evil; to commit all kinds of crimes

Definition

An idiom describing a person who commits every possible crime — no evil is too much. Used strongly to condemn tyrants, villains, or criminal groups; not for minor wrongdoing.

idiom
to stop at nothing in committing evilto commit all kinds of crimes

Examples

  • 无恶不作，。
    Zhè ge fàn zuì tuán huǒ wú è bù zuò, jǐng fāng bì xū jǐn kuài zhuā bǔ tā men.
    This criminal gang stops at nothing — the police must arrest them as soon as possible.
  • 无恶不作，。
    Xiǎo shuō lǐ de fǎn pài wú è bù zuò, zuì hòu dé dào le yīng yǒu de chéng fá.
    The villain in the novel commits every evil and finally gets the punishment he deserves.
  • 无恶不作，。
    Lì shǐ shàng yǒu xiē bào jūn wú è bù zuò, cán hài bǎi xìng.
    Some tyrants in history stopped at no evil, harming the common people.

Origin

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 無; 无 is its simplified writing.

For the simplified 无, the story is about 無. 無 drew a person dancing with ox tails held in both hands to pray for rain, then was borrowed for 'have no', so the picture does not explain that meaning.

Open 无 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 惡; 恶 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
亞
亞yā惡è
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 惡 pairs 心 (heart) as the meaning part with 亞 (yā) as the sound part; the simplified 恶 is a later shorthand.

Open 恶 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

Open 不 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
乍
乍zhà作zuò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left side 亻 comes from 人, meaning 'person', and the right side 乍 gives the sound.

Open 作 →
Appears in
Crime & PoliceIdioms & Set Phrases

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