火のないところに煙は立たない

Japanese

Kanji in this term
火	煙	立
ひ Grade: 1	けむり Grade: S	た Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Alternative spellings
火のない所に煙は立たない 火の無いところに煙は立たない 火の無い所に煙は立たない

Alternative forms

• 火(ひ)の無(な)い所(ところ)に煙(けむり)は立(た)たぬ (hi no nai tokoro ni kemuri wa tatanu, using the classical negative ending -nu)

Etymology

Can be broken down as 火 (hi, “fire”) +‎ の (no, genitive particle; in subordinate clauses, can mark the subject of the clause) +‎ ない (nai, “not, not any”) +‎ ところ (tokoro, “place, location”) +‎ に (ni, “at, in”, locative particle) +‎ 煙 (kemuri, “smoke”) +‎ は (wa, topic and contrastive particle) +‎ 立たない (tatanai, “doesn't stand, doesn't rise”, the plain negative conjugation of verb 立つ (tatsu, “to stand, to rise”)).

Literally, "smoke doesn't rise in places with no fire".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [çi no̞ na̠i to̞ko̞ɾo̞ ɲ̟i ke̞mɯ̟ɾʲi β̞a̠ ta̠ta̠na̠i]

Proverb

火(ひ)のないところに煙(けむり)は立(た)たない • (hi no nai tokoro ni kemuri wa tatanai) 

1. where there's smoke, there's fire