📖 Meaning
To deliberately avoid discussing or mentioning something. It refers to intentionally evading a topic, question, or fact rather than addressing it directly. The phrase implies a conscious decision to sidestep an uncomfortable or sensitive subject.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom appears in the preface to the 1956 'Selected Reportage' (《一九五六年〈特写选〉序言》) written by Xu Chi, a prominent 20th-century Chinese writer and poet. In the preface, Xu Chi criticized writers of the time who, when faced with sharp contradictions in reality, either avoided discussing them altogether or diluted them to soften the impact. The phrase has since become a common expression for deliberately evading discussion of sensitive or inconvenient topics.
💡 Example Usage
他对自己的错误避而不谈，试图转移话题。
He avoided discussing his own mistakes and tried to change the subject.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 避而不谈
- Pinyin: bì ér bù tán
- Literal Translation: avoid, and, not, talk
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4