Words & Speech
言語道斷
언어도단
yán yǔ dào duàn
Eon-eo-do-dan
言
말씀 언
語
말씀 어
道
길 도
斷
끊을 단
Character by character
Meaning
Where words run out — in Korean use, utterly unreasonable.
Origin
Originally Buddhist, meaning truth cannot be exhausted in words; Korean usage shifted it to "absurd".
How it is used
A strong rejection of what someone has just claimed.
Hanja言語道斷
Simplified言语道断
Korean reading언어도단
Pinyinyán yǔ dào duàn
Frequently asked questions
Q. What does Eon-eo-do-dan mean?
言語道斷 · Where words run out — in Korean use, utterly unreasonable.
Q. Where does Eon-eo-do-dan come from?
Originally Buddhist, meaning truth cannot be exhausted in words; Korean usage shifted it to "absurd".
Q. How is Eon-eo-do-dan used?
A strong rejection of what someone has just claimed.
Idioms in the same group
言中有骨 Eon-jung-yu-golThere is bone inside the words — a hard meaning hidden in an ordinary remark.寸鐵殺人 Chon-cheol-sa-rinKill with an inch of steel — pierce the vital point with a few words.以心傳心 I-sim-jeon-simMind transmits to mind — understanding without a word spoken.甘言利說 Gam-eon-i-seolSweet words and seemingly advantageous talk — the language of enticement.有口無言 Yu-gu-mu-eonYou have a mouth but nothing to say.一言之下 Il-eon-ji-haSettled in a single word — a flat, immediate response.
The idioms used in Korea mix phrases from the Chinese classics with ones coined in Korea. Where an expression is not used in China, the entry says so.