📖 Meaning
To pass information, stories, or teachings from person to person by word of mouth, without committing them to writing. It usually describes oral transmission of knowledge, traditions, or folklore across generations.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase traces to the Song dynasty work 'Yunji Qiqian' (云笈七签), compiled by the scholar Zhang Junfang. In Volume 72 it cites a Daoist scripture stating that 'knowing the white and keeping the black, divine illumination comes of itself,' explaining that the mysterious Dao is the mother of all things. Because sages treasured this teaching, they kept it secret rather than committing it to writing, transmitting it instead mouth to mouth.
💡 Example Usage
许多民间故事没有文字记载，全靠老人口口相传保留至今。
Many folk tales were never written down and survive only because the elderly passed them on by word of mouth to this day.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 口口相传
- Pinyin: kǒu kǒu xiāng chuán
- Literal Translation: mouth, mouth, mutually, transmit
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4