不可多得 (bù kě duō dé) — rare and precious; hard to come by (of talents,…

Definition

A set phrase meaning 'rare and valuable' — used to praise a person, chance, or thing that is hard to find. Equivalent to 难得.

verb

rare and precioushard to come by (of talents, opportunities, or valuable items)

不可多得，。
Zhè yàng de rén cái zhēn shì bù kě duō dé, wǒ men yí dìng yào liú zhù tā.
Such talent is truly rare and precious — we must keep him.
不可多得，。
Zhè cì jī huì bù kě duō dé, nǐ yí dìng yào hǎo hǎo bǎ wò.
This opportunity is hard to come by — you must seize it.
不可多得，。
Zhè fú huà shì bù kě duō dé de zhēn pǐn, bó wù guǎn huā le hěn duō qián cái mǎi dào.
This painting is a rare treasure; the museum spent a lot of money to acquire it.

Characters in this word

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.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

丂

丂kǎo可kě

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

可 pairs 口 (mouth) with 丂 as a sound part; it is tied to air from the mouth, perhaps singing.

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

多 originally showed two pieces of meat placed together; the repeated meat shape gives the sense of many.

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The old form 㝵 showed a hand picking up a cowry, meaning to obtain; later changes turned that picture into 得.