不识时务 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• to show no understanding of the times ; cannot adapt to current circumstances
• not amenable to reason

Character by character

• 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
• 识shíknowledge; to understand, to recognize, to know
• 时shítime, season; period, era, age
• 务wùaffairs, business; should; must

Idioms sharing a character

• 一丁不识 yī dīng bù shí
• 一尘不染 yī chén bù rǎn
• 一字不差 yī zì bù chà
• 一字不提 yī zì bù tí
• 一成不变 yī chéng bù biàn
• 一文不值 yī wén bù zhí
• 一毛不拔 yī máo bù bá
• 一病不起 yī bìng bù qǐ
• 一窍不通 yī qiào bù tōng
• 一笔不苟 yī bǐ bù gǒu

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.