一文不名 (yì wén bù míng) — penniless; without a penny to one's name

Definition

Literary idiom for having not a single cent — stronger and more formal than plain 没钱. 文 here means a coin of old currency, so even one is denied.

idiom

pennilesswithout a penny to one's name

一文不名，。
Tā nián qīng shí yì wén bù míng, quán kào zì jǐ dǎ pīn cái yǒu le jīn tiān.
When he was young, he was penniless and relied entirely on his own hard work to get where he is today.
一文不名。
Nà chǎng jīn róng wēi jī ràng xǔ duō fù wēng biàn de yì wén bù míng.
That financial crisis made many wealthy people become penniless.
一文不名。
Tā yì wén bù míng de yàng zi ràng rén hěn nán xiāng xìn tā céng shì fù háo.
His penniless look makes it hard to believe he was once a millionaire.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

一 is drawn as one horizontal stroke, marking the number one.

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

The current form 文 shows a man with head, arms, legs, and chest; the tattoo marks on the chest are no longer drawn.

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.

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

夕口名

名 puts 夕 (crescent moon) above 口 (mouth), showing a name spoken in the dark.

Appears in