HSK 6 · Verbs

滔滔不绝 tāotāobùjué “to talk non-stop” in Chinese

Traditional 滔滔不絕

What 滔滔不绝 means

  1. to talk non-stop
  2. endlessly flowing
  3. (idiom) to produce a torrent of words
  4. to talk on and on

How to say 滔滔不绝

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale滔tāo1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale滔tāo1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale不bù4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale绝jué2nd tone, rising

滔滔不绝 in a sentence

  1. 他一说起旅游就滔滔不绝。

    Tā yì shuōqǐ lǚyóu jiù tāotāobùjué.

    Once he starts talking about travel, he goes on and on.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 她滔滔不绝地讲了一个小时。

    Tā tāotāobùjué de jiǎng le yí ge xiǎoshí.

    She talked non-stop for an hour.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 滔滔不绝 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 滔 (tāo) with each of its parts in a different colour
滔tāoto inundate; deluge; torrent
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 舀to ladle out · yǎoSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 舀 (yǎo) hints at the sound. Compare it with tāo.

The character 滔 (tāo) with each of its parts in a different colour
滔tāoto inundate; deluge; torrent
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 舀to ladle out · yǎoSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 舀 (yǎo) hints at the sound. Compare it with tāo.

The character 不 (bù) drawn as one shape
不bùno; not so

不 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidPicture a bar 一 across the top that nothing below can get past: not, no.

The character 绝 (jué) with each of its parts in a different colour
绝juéto cut short
  • 纟silk form of 糸 · mìMeaning part
  • 色colour · sèSound part

纟 hints at the meaning (silk); 色 (sè) hints at the sound. Compare it with jué.

How to write 滔滔不绝

滔 13 strokes · 不 4 strokes · 绝 9 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

滔滔不绝 (tāotāobùjué) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 滔滔不绝 (tāotāobùjué). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 滔滔不绝

Words with 不

不bù · no不要bùyào · don’t!不客气bú kèqi · you’re welcome对不起duìbuqǐ · sorry不错bùcuò · not bad不好意思bùhǎoyìsi · to feel embarrassed不但búdàn · not only不同bùtóng · different不少bùshǎo · quite a few不见bújiàn · to be missing

Words with 绝

拒绝jùjué · to refuse绝对juéduì · absolute谢绝xièjué · to politely decline断绝duànjué · to break off杜绝dùjué · to put an end to绝望juéwàng · to despair空前绝后kōngqiánjuéhòu · unprecedented and unrepeatable络绎不绝luòyìbùjué · in an endless stream

More words: Thinking & Talking

索取suǒqǔ · to ask for探索tànsuǒ · to explore探讨tàntǎo · to discuss讨好tǎohǎo · to please挑拨tiǎobō · to stir up trouble提示tíshì · to prompt提议tíyì · to propose透露tòulù · to reveal

FAQs

滔滔不绝 (tāotāobùjué) means “to talk non-stop” or “endlessly flowing”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it tāotāobùjué: tāo with a 1st tone, then tāo with a 1st tone, then bù with a 4th tone, then jué with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 滔滔不绝 is written 滔滔不絕. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type taotaobujue with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 滔滔不绝 from the suggestions. Typing taotaobujue into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
滔滔不绝 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.