Chinese · Idiom Attested

事不过三

shì bù guò sān

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Traditional: 事不過三

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Things should stop at three. Said to set a limit on patience or on attempts: once or twice may pass, but the third time is the last.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Một việc không nên lặp lại quá ba lần. Dùng để đặt giới hạn cho sự kiên nhẫn hay cho số lần thử: một hai lần còn được, đến lần thứ ba là hết.

Literally: a matter does not go past three

Examples

事不过三，你再迟到就别来了。Shì bù guò sān, nǐ zài chídào jiù bié lái le.Three times is the limit: be late once more and don't bother coming.

Editorial example (illustrative, not a corpus attestation) — awaiting a native-speaker check

Sources & notes

Hán-Việt bridge batch 062 (2026-11-13). Headword, Traditional form and pinyin checked against CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0) source ↗ · Hán-Việt reading: Unihan kVietnamese source ↗ · Vietnamese cognate: Idiomer entry “sự bất quá tam” (su-bat-qua-tam). Definition, literal gloss and example sentence are original; the example has not had a native-speaker check yet.

Equivalents & related

Hán-Việt cognate sự bất quá tam Nothing goes past three — three tries tells the tale; the customary limit of patience and proof. Tiếng Việt

Common questions

What does “事不过三” mean?

Things should stop at three. Said to set a limit on patience or on attempts: once or twice may pass, but the third time is the last. Literally: a matter does not go past three

Is “事不过三” formal or informal?

事不过三 is generally neutral.

👁 Views 0 today 0 past 7 days 0 this month 0 all time