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不服 (bù fú) — to refuse to accept; to be unconvinced by; to not give in (to an outcome, rule, or authority)

Definition

不服 (bùfú) means 'to refuse to accept, to remain unconvinced' — a personal, stubborn stance toward an outcome. The opposite of 服从 ('to obey, comply'), which means actively following authority or rules.

verb
to refuse to acceptto be unconvinced byto not give in (to an outcome, rule, or authority)
Easily confused

Examples

  • ，不服。
    Duì zhè ge pàn jué, tā xīn zhōng bù fú.
    He refuses to accept this verdict in his heart.
  • ，不服，。
    Tā shū le yì jú, dàn shì bù fú, hái yào zài bǐ yí cì.
    He lost one round, but he didn't accept it and wanted to compete again.
  • ，不服，。
    Tā kǎo shì méi kǎo hǎo, xīn lǐ hěn bù fú, jué dìng xià cì nǔ lì.
    She didn't do well on the exam, felt unconvinced inside, and decided to work harder next time.

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
服fúsubmit

不 gives no and 服 gives submit, so the sense is refusing to accept.

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 →

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
凡凡fántray
Sound part声符shēngfú
𠬝
𠬝𠬝服fú
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 服, the part 𠬝 was the original picture for 'to subdue'; the added left part 凡, a tray, later changed shape.

Open 服 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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