不谋而合 (bù móu ér hé) — (idiom) to happen to coincide without prior discussion; to think alike without exchanging ideas

Definition

An idiom meaning two or more people independently arrive at the same view or idea, without having discussed it beforehand. Used to highlight a striking, almost uncanny agreement.

idiom
to happen to coincide without prior discussionto think alike without exchanging ideas

Examples

  • 不谋而合，。
    Tā men de kàn fǎ bù móu ér hé, dōu rèn wéi yīng gāi xiān diào chá zài jué dìng.
    Their views happened to coincide; both thought we should investigate first before deciding.
  • ，不谋而合。
    Guān yú zhè ge fāng àn de xiū gǎi, liǎng gè tuán duì de yì jiàn bù móu ér hé.
    Regarding the revision of this plan, the opinions of the two teams coincided without prior discussion.
  • 不谋而合，。
    Xiǎo wáng hé lǎo zhāng de xiǎng fǎ bù móu ér hé, dōu tí chū le tóng yàng de jiàn yì.
    Xiao Wang and Old Zhang independently had the same idea and both made the same suggestion.

Origin

Characters in this word

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 謀; 谋 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yán
Sound part声符shēngfú
某
某mǒu謀móu
Same sound today

The traditional form 謀 uses 言 to show it relates to speech and 某 to show its sound; the simplified 谋 is a later shorthand.

Open 谋 →

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

The shape of 而 is a picture of a beard.

Open 而 →

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

合 shows 亼 and 口 arranged as two mouths speaking together.

Open 合 →

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