Chinese word

脱口而出

Pronunciation

Pinyintuō kǒu ér chū

Meaning

  • idiomblurt out

Example

她听到秘密，忍不住脱口而出了。tā tīng dào mì mì rěn bú zhù tuō kǒu ér chū le

She heard the secret and couldn't help blurting it out.

Illustration for 脱口而出 (blurt out)

More examples

他在面试时不经思索就脱口而出不合适的话，结果后悔了。tā zài miàn shì shí bù jīng sī suǒ jiù tuō kǒu ér chū bù hé shì de huà jié guǒ hòu huǐ le

At the interview, he blurted out something inappropriate without thinking and regretted it afterward.

Core concept

A thought slips through a gap in self-control and appears as spoken words.

Common phrases

  • 不经思索就脱口而出bù jīng sī suǒ jiù tuō kǒu ér chū

    blurt out without thinking

Similar words

不假思索bù jiǎ sī suǒ: Doing or saying something at once without first thinking it over.
随口而出suí kǒu ér chū: Making an offhand remark without deep thought or special intention.
口不择言kǒu bù zé yán: Making a careless remark without considering which words are suitable.

Definition in Chinese

因一时冲动或不经意而把本想隐藏的话说出来。yīn yì shí chōng dòng huò bù jīng yì ér bǎ běn xiǎng yǐn cáng de huà shuō chū lái

Word origin

脱口而出 (tuōkǒuérchū, "leave the mouth and come out") joins 脱 (tuō, "leave") and 口 (kǒu, "mouth") with 而 (ér, "and") and 出 (chū, "come out") to show words moving outward unexpectedly.

Usage tips

  • The key contrast is intention: the speaker may know the words but not mean to say them at that moment, which separates this idiom from a planned statement.

Other meanings

  • let slipidiom

Opposites

  • 谨言慎行jǐn yán shèn xíngwatch one's words and actionsidiom

Word lists with this word