📖 Meaning
To know something before it happens without needing to consult divination. It describes someone with remarkable foresight or the ability to anticipate events before they unfold, as if possessing a sixth sense.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom first appeared in the Yuan dynasty zaju play 'Peach Blossom Girl' (《桃花女》) by an anonymous author. In Act 3, a character sarcastically praises another's mastery of the I Ching's yin-yang principles, saying they possess the ability to 'know without divining.' The idiom draws on the ancient Chinese practice of pyro-osteomancy, where tortoise shells were heated over fire and the resulting cracks were interpreted to predict the future. Over time, the phrase came to describe anyone with uncanny foresight.
💡 Example Usage
他仿佛未卜先知，提前做好了所有准备。
As if he could foresee the future, he had made all the preparations in advance.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 未卜先知
- Pinyin: wèi bǔ xiān zhī
- Literal Translation: not, divine, beforehand, know
- Category: Knowledge
- Characters: 4