📖 Meaning
Knowing about a situation yet failing to report or expose it. The term typically refers to being aware of someone's wrongdoing but choosing to remain silent out of loyalty, fear, or self-interest. It carries a legal and moral implication of complicity through inaction.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Qing dynasty novel Fei Long Quan Zhuan (The Complete Tale of the Flying Dragon) by Wu Xuan, first chapter. In the story, an official charged with patrolling the city faces a dilemma between his duty to report wrongdoing to the throne and his loyalty to a friend. He acknowledges that concealing the matter for friendship's sake would still leave him guilty of the charge of 'knowing the situation but not reporting it.' The phrase thus came to denote the offense of being aware of misconduct yet failing to expose it.
💡 Example Usage
他知情不举，最终也受到了法律的制裁。
He knew about it but did not report it, and ultimately faced legal consequences himself.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 知情不举
- Pinyin: zhī qíng bù jǔ
- Literal Translation: know, situation, not, report
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4