无中生有

wú zhōng shēng yǒu

to make it up out of nothing

Character by character

无wú
nothing

中zhōng
from

生shēng
produce

有yǒu
something

这完全是无中生有的谣言。

This is a rumour made up out of thin air.

Tone: negative (criticism).

Rooted in Laozi's 'being is born of non-being' and one of the Thirty-Six Stratagems; now 'fabricated'.

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