📖 Meaning
To commit every conceivable evil; to stop at no wickedness. It describes someone who has done all manner of bad deeds without exception.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from a letter by the Qing dynasty scholar Zheng Xie (郑燮), commonly known as Zheng Banqiao, written to his younger brother while serving as an official in Fan County. In the letter, Zheng denounced the Southern Song dynasty's policies since the Shaoxing era, accusing its rulers of pursuing peace talks, increasing tributes, accepting humiliating titles, and executing great generals—doing every evil and stooping to every baseness. The expression thus originally critiqued political cowardice and corruption, but later broadened to describe any person who commits all kinds of atrocities.
💡 Example Usage
这伙土匪烧杀抢掠，无恶不作，百姓恨之入骨。
This band of bandits burned, killed, looted, and committed every conceivable atrocity; the common people hated them to the bone.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 无恶不作
- Pinyin: wú è bù zuò
- Literal Translation: no, evil, not, do
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4