# 无中生有

wú zhōng shēng yǒu

Invent something without a factual basis

## Meaning & wording

**Literally:** Create something from nothing

**Traditional Chinese:** 無中生有

**Register:** Critical · general

[Perspective](https://chinese-idioms.yudis.dev/idioms/topics/perspective)

## When to use it

Commonly criticize fabricated claims, though creative contexts can be neutral.

For accusations it implies fabrication, not merely uncertain inference.

## Understanding the expression

Something appears even though no supporting substance existed beforehand. In ordinary disputes, the expression criticizes invented rumors or accusations. It can also describe creative invention more neutrally when the context explicitly concerns art or building something new. The negative sense needs evidence that the claim lacks a basis. A mistaken inference is not always deliberate fabrication, so a precise account separates absence of support from assumptions about the speaker's intention.

## Examples

她说我收了钱，完全无中生有。

### Traditional Chinese

她說我收了錢，完全無中生有。

tā shuō wǒ shōu le qián ， wán quán wú zhōng shēng yǒu 。

Her claim that I took money is fabricated.

不能无中生有地编造证据。

### Traditional Chinese

不能無中生有地編造證據。

bù néng wú zhōng shēng yǒu dì biān zào zhèng jù 。

Evidence must not be invented.

这条传闻无中生有，已被澄清。

### Traditional Chinese

這條傳聞無中生有，已被澄清。

zhè tiáo chuán wén wú zhōng shēng yǒu ， yǐ bèi chéng qīng 。

The fabricated rumor has been corrected.

编剧无中生有，创造了一个新世界。

### Traditional Chinese

編劇無中生有，創造了一個新世界。

biān jù wú zhōng shēng yǒu ， chuàng zào le yí gè xīn shì jiè 。

The screenwriter imaginatively created a new world.

## Sources & reference checks

Original explanations and examples from Chinese Idioms Almanac. Source-checked October 6, 2026.

- [CC-CEDICT · forms & pronunciation](https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdqb=%E7%84%A1%E4%B8%AD%E7%94%9F%E6%9C%89)

- [Ministry of Education · 成語典](https://dict.idioms.moe.edu.tw/idiomView.jsp?ID=688&webMd=1&la=0)

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