不好过 (bù hǎo guò) — having a hard time (in life); in difficulty; fe…

Definition

Colloquial 'having a hard time / feeling bad' — covers both life hardship and feeling unwell or sad. Use 难过 (grieved) for purely emotional sadness.

adjective

having a hard time (in life)in difficultyfeeling unwell (physically or emotionally)sad

，不好过。
Tā shī yè le, rì zi hěn bù hǎo guò.
He lost his job and is having a hard time.
不好过，。
Wǒ zuì jìn shēn tǐ bù hǎo guò, zǒng xiǎng xiū xi.
I've been feeling unwell lately and always want to rest.
，不好过。
Tīng shuō yé ye qù shì le, tā xīn lǐ bù hǎo guò.
He heard his grandfather passed away and felt very sad.

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.

好过easy to pass

偏正Modifier + head

不 means not, while 好过 pairs 好 easy with 过 pass, making the feeling hard to get through.

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.

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

女子好

好 joins 女 (woman) and 子 (child), understood as a woman with a child, linked to goodness or affection.

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 過; 过 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

辵辵chuòwalk

Sound part声符shēngfú

咼

咼wāi過guò

Same sound today

The traditional form 過 pairs 辵 (walk) with 咼 as a sound component; the simplified 过 is a shorthand, and its parts are not the historical components.

Appears in