察知言辭的真意。早期儒家的《論語》《孟子》等文獻中都提到“知言”的觀念。儒家認為，言辭是人們表達和交流的中介。但由于種種原因，很多時候言辭并不能準確、真實、完整地傳達意義。因此儒家強調要善于辨察言辭偏離真意的原因，并在此基礎之上進一步探究言辭的真意。

This term means to discern the true meaning of statements. This concept is mentioned in early Confucian classics such as The Analects and Mencius. Confucianism regarded statements as the vehicle through which people express themselves and communicate with others. However, for various reasons, statements often cannot accurately, faithfully or fully convey the true meaning that was intended to convey. Hence Confucianism emphasized the need to discern statements to find out why they deviated from the true meaning and further explore them.

引例 Citations：

◎不知言，無以知人也。（《論語·堯曰》）

不善于分辨別人的話，就不能真正地了解他。

If you do not discern statements of others, you cannot understand them. (The Analects)

◎“何謂知言？”曰：“诐（bì）辭知其所蔽，淫辭知其所陷，邪辭知其所離，遁辭知其所窮。”（《孟子·公孫丑上》）

公孫丑問：“什么是知言？”孟子說：“偏頗的言辭知道它片面的地方，浮夸的言辭知道它失實的地方，邪異的言辭知道它偏離正道的地方，搪塞的言辭知道它理屈詞窮的地方。”

Gongsun Chou asked, "What does discerning statements mean?" Mencius said, "Discerning statements enables one to know how one-sided statements are biased, exaggerations are untrue, heresy is deviated from truth and poor defense is unjustified." (Mencius)

推薦：教育部 國家語委

供稿：北京外國語大學 外語教學與研究出版社

責任編輯：錢耐安