無風不起浪 wú fēng bù qǐ làng

no smoke without fire; things have a cause

Word data

HSK Not in HSK
Frequency Unknown

Definitions

  1. 1. lit. without wind there cannot be waves (idiom); there must be a reason
  2. 2. no smoke without fire

Characters

Character Meaning
無 wú
not; no; not to have
風 fēng
wind; style; manner
不 bù HSK 1
not; no; (negative prefix)
起 qǐ HSK 1
to get up; to rise; to start
浪 làng HSK 4
wave; unrestrained; dissipated