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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

事不過三

/ʂɻ̩⁵¹ pu⁵¹⁻³⁵ ku̯ɔ⁵¹ sän⁵⁵/
There will not be a fourth time. / One should not make the same action or mistake more than three times.
  • 事不过三
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Etymology graph

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The phrase suggests that a pattern or mistake should not be repeated beyond the third occurrence.
The phrase suggests that a pattern or mistake should not be repeated beyond the third occurrence.

Origin

The phrase 事不過三 is composed of four characters. 事 means thing or matter and includes the components 中 (middle; center) and 又 (again; once more). 不 means not. 過 means to cross, to pass, to go across, or to pass through. It is formed with the semantic component 辵 (to walk for a while and be still for a while) and the phonetic component 咼 (slanting). The component 辵 further consists of 彳 (to walk slowly) and 止 (foot). The phonetic component 咼 contains the semantic component 口 (mouth) and the phonetic component 冎 (bone).

三 means three.

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

  • characterChinese事 “thing; matter (Classifier: 件 m c; 樁／桩 m; 回 m; 條／条 mn-t)”
    • ideaChinese又 “again; once more”
    • ideaChinese中 “middle; center”
  • characterChinese不 “not; un-; in-; il-; im-; ir-”
  • characterChinese過 “to cross; to pass; to go across; to pass through”
    • meaningChinese辵 “to walk for a while and be still for a while”
      • ideaChinese彳 “to walk slowly”
      • ideaChinese止 “foot”
    • soundChinese咼 “slanting”
      • soundChinese冎 “bone”
      • meaningChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”
  • characterChinese三 “three”
Wiktionary etymology text

No etymology text yet. The graph shows what is known from the sources.

Meanings

phrase
  1. There will not be a fourth time. / One should not make the same action or mistake more than three times.

Sources

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0