下不来 (xià bù lái) — cannot come down (literally); (metaphorical) be embarrassed, lose face (esp. with 面子); (colloquial) cannot be accomplished; won't do; not okay

Definition

下不来 (xià bu lái) literally means 'cannot come down' but is more often used colloquially to mean 'won't work' or 'lose face' (esp. with 面子) when a situation is too awkward to recover from.

verb
cannot come down (literally)(metaphorical) be embarrassedlose face (esp. with 面子)(colloquial) cannot be accomplishedwon't donot okay

Examples

  • ，下不来。
    Tā pá dé tài gāo le, xiàn zài xià bù lái le.
    He climbed too high and now can't come down.
  • ，。
    Nǐ zhè me dāng zhòng pī píng tā, ràng tā miàn zi shàng xià bù lái.
    Criticizing him publicly like this made him lose face.
  • ，下不来。
    Zhè ge fāng àn xíng bù tōng, kǒng pà xià bù lái.
    This plan won't work; I'm afraid it's a no-go.

Origin

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

下 is drawn as a short horizontal line below a long curved line.

Open 下 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

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A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 來; 来 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 來 shows a wheat plant: a central ear, upward leaves, and downward stem and roots. The simplified 来 is a later shorthand.

Open 来 →

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