一言不发 (yī yán bù fā)

Character breakdown

• 一 (yī) · 1 strokes

  A single horizontal stroke, representing the number one.

• 言 (yán) · 7 strokes

  Pictograph of a tongue (舌) sticking out of a mouth. In old scripts 言 was written the same as 舌 but with an extra line.

• 不 (bù) · 4 strokes

  Pictograph of sepals of a flower. The modern meaning "no" is a phonetic loan.

• 发 (fā) · 5 strokes

  Simplified form of both 發 (send out) and 髮 (hair). Visually similar to 犮, the bottom component of 髮.

Usage

他坐在那里一言不发。

to not say a word (idiom)

tā zuò zài nà lǐ yī yán bù fā 。