不复 (bú fù) — no longer (before verbs, literary)

Definition

不复 (bú) is a literary 'no longer / never again' — restricted to formal writing and classical-style prose, not everyday speech.

adverb

no longer (before verbs, literary)

。
Guò qù de měi hǎo shí guāng yǐ jīng bú fù cún zài.
The beautiful past no longer exists.
不复。
Tā fā shì bú fù yǐn jiǔ.
He swore never to drink again.
不复。
Nà jiàn shì hòu lái bú fù tí qǐ.
That matter was never brought up again later.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

“不” (not) and “复” (again) combine to mean no longer happening.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 復; 复 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 复 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (复习, 恢复) it is 復; in others (复印, 复杂) (答复, 反复) it is 複 or 覆.

彳复復

Meaning part形符xíngfú

彳彳chìwalk

Sound part声符shēngfú

复

Same sound today

The traditional form 復 combines 彳, a walking part, with 复, a sound part, to show walking back and forth.