明知故问 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• to ask a question, already knowing the answer

Character by character

• 明míngbright, clear; to explain, to understand, to shed
• 知zhīto know, to perceive, to comprehend
• 故gùreason, cause; happening, instance
• 问wènto ask about, to inquire after

Idioms sharing a character

• 不明不白 bù míng bù bái
• 不明事理 bù míng shì lǐ
• 不言自明 bù yán zì míng
• 事后聪明 shì hòu cōng ming
• 以资证明 yǐ zī zhèng míng
• 来历不明 lái lì bù míng
• 光明磊落 guāng míng lěi luò
• 冰雪聪明 bīng xuě cōng ming
• 另请高明 lìng qǐng gāo míng
• 奉若神明 fèng ruò shén míng

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