冷不丁 (lěng bù dīng) — suddenly, out of the blue, without warning

Definition

Spoken adverb meaning 'all of a sudden' — emphasizes that something happens without the slightest warning, more vivid than the neutral 突然.

adverb

suddenlyout of the bluewithout warning

冷不丁，。
Tā lěng bù dīng wèn le wǒ yí gè wèn tí, wǒ lèng zhù le.
He suddenly asked me a question, and I was stunned.
冷不丁，。
Wài miàn lěng bù dīng xià qǐ le dà yǔ, wǒ men dōu méi dài sǎn.
It suddenly started pouring outside, and none of us had umbrellas.
冷不丁，。
Tā lěng bù dīng xiào le qǐ lái, bǎ dà jiā dōu xià le yí tiào.
She burst out laughing out of nowhere, startling everyone.

Characters in this word

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

冫令冷

Meaning part形符xíngfú

冫Written in full as仌bīngice

Sound part声符shēngfú

令

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

冷 uses 冫, the ice form, with 令 as a sound part, to mean cold as ice.

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.

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

丁 may picture a nail head, a person's head, a square city wall, or a square star pattern.