不屈 (bù qū) — unyielding, unbending | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

verb

unyieldingunbending

不屈。
Tā yǒu zhe bù qū de jīng shén.
He has an unyielding spirit.
，不屈。
Miàn duì kùn nan, tā shǐ zhōng bù qū.
Facing difficulties, she remained unyielding.
不屈。
Zhè zhǒng bù qū de pǐn zhì lìng rén jìng pèi.
This kind of unyielding character is admirable.

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 expresses refusal and 屈 means bending, together describing not bending or yielding.

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

出

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

屈 was built from 出 for sound and 尾 for tail; the tail part later changed into the top of 屈.

Appears in