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不平 (bù píng) — uneven (of a surface); injustice; grievance; indignant (feeling that something is unfair)

Definition

不平 covers two senses: 'uneven' for surfaces, and 'feeling indignant about unfairness' — milder than 愤怒 or 气愤 (which are openly angry), closer to a quiet sense of grievance. 不满 is a more general 'dissatisfied', without the unfairness implication.

adjective
uneven (of a surface)injusticegrievanceindignant (feeling that something is unfair)

Examples

  • 不平，。
    Zhè tiáo lù bù píng, kāi chē yào xiǎo xīn.
    This road is uneven — drive carefully.
  • ，不平。
    Tā shòu dào bù gōng zhèng dài yù, xīn zhōng chōng mǎn bù píng.
    He received unfair treatment, and his heart is full of grievance.
  • 不平，。
    Bǎi xìng duì zhè jiàn shì gǎn dào bù píng, fēn fēn kàng yì.
    The common people felt indignant about this matter and protested one after another.

Origin

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bùnot
平pínglevel/just

不 ('not') applied to 平 ('level, just') gives 'not level' or 'unfair'.

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.

Open 不 →

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

The origin is uncertain. One explanation combines 八 (division) and 亏 (exhaled air) to show smooth speech.

Open 平 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Emotions & FeelingsLaw & Justice

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