潜规则是指看不见的、明文没有规定的，约定俗成的，无局限性，却又是广泛认同、实际起作用的，人们必须“遵循”的一种规则，相对于“元规则” 、“明规则”而言的。
Implicit rules refer to invisible, unwritten, customary, unlimited, but widely recognized and effective rules that people must “follow”, as opposed to “meta-rules” and “explicit rules”.
其可弥补明规则不足之处，合理之处应当予以弘扬，不合理之处即应扼杀于摇篮之中。
潜规则是人们私下认可的行为约束。这种行为约束，依据当事人双方（各方）给对方带来利益或者给对方带来的伤害能力，在社会行为主体的互动中自发形成，可以使互动各方的冲突减少，降低交易成本。
所谓约束就是行为越界必将招致报复，对这种厉害后果的共识，强化了互动各方对彼此行为的预期的稳定性。
某些在实际上得到遵从的规矩，背离了正义观念或正式制度规定，侵犯了主流意识形态或正式制度所维护的利益，因此不得不以隐蔽的形式存在，当事人对隐蔽形式本身也有明确的认可。
通过这种隐蔽，当事人将正式规则的代表屏蔽于局部互动之外，或者，将代表拉入私下交易之中，凭借这种私下的规则替换，获取正式规则所不能提供的利益。
在潜规则的生成过程中，当事人并不只是交易的两方，而应加上代表正式规则的第三方。当事双方利用潜规则进行私下交易的时候，他们实际上联合形成了一个对抗第三方正式代表的联盟（正是众多的而强大联盟的形成，才使得潜规则具有长期的、强大的甚至稳定的对抗能力。）。而潜规则的“潜”本身就是一种生存策略，同样也表明了更高层次的正式制度和规则的存在。
They can make up for the shortcomings of explicit rules, and reasonable ones should be promoted, while unreasonable ones should be nipped in the bud.
Implicit rules are behavioral constraints that people privately recognize. This kind of behavioral constraint is formed spontaneously in the interaction of social actors based on the ability of the two parties (parties) to bring benefits or harm to each other, which can reduce conflicts among the parties and reduce transaction costs.
The so-called constraint is that behavior that crosses the line will inevitably lead to retaliation. The consensus on this severe consequence strengthens the stability of the expectations of the parties to each other’s behavior.
Some rules that are actually followed deviate from the concept of justice or formal institutional regulations and infringe on the interests maintained by mainstream ideology or formal institutions. Therefore, they have to exist in a hidden form, and the parties also clearly recognize the hidden form itself.
Through this concealment, the parties shield the representatives of the formal rules from local interactions, or pull the representatives into private transactions, and obtain benefits that the formal rules cannot provide by replacing the private rules.
In the process of generating implicit rules, the parties are not just the two parties of the transaction, but also the third party representing the formal rules. When the parties use implicit rules to conduct private transactions, they actually form an alliance to fight against the formal representatives of the third party (it is the formation of numerous and powerful alliances that makes implicit rules have long-term, powerful and even stable confrontation capabilities.). The “implicit” of implicit rules itself is a survival strategy, and it also indicates the existence of higher-level formal institutions and rules.