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不耐烦 (bù nài fán) — impatient; to lose patience

Definition

不耐烦 describes losing patience in a situation (a slow waiter, a long queue) — a temporary reaction, calmer than 焦躁 (irritable/anxious) and less eager than 急切.

phrase
impatientto lose patience

Examples

  • ，不耐烦。
    Pái duì de rén hěn duō, dà jiā dōu yǒu diǎn bù nài fán le.
    There were many people in line, and everyone was getting a bit impatient.
  • ，不耐烦。
    Tā duì fú wù yuán de tài dù hěn bù mǎn yì, xiǎn de hěn bù nài fán.
    He was very dissatisfied with the waiter's attitude and appeared very impatient.
  • ，不耐烦。
    Lǎo shī jiǎng dé tài màn, xué shēng men kāi shǐ bù nài fán le.
    The teacher spoke too slowly, and the students started to lose patience.

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
耐烦endure trouble; patient
耐nàiendure烦fántrouble
动宾Verb + object

不 says not to 耐烦, where 耐 means endure and 烦 means trouble, so it means impatient.

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
寸寸cùn
Sound part声符shēngfú
而
而ér耐nài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

耐 puts 而 on the left and 寸 on the right: 而 gives the sound, and 寸 gives the sense.

Open 耐 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 煩; 烦 is its simplified writing.

In the traditional form 煩, the shape is made from 火 (fire) and 頁 (head).

Open 烦 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6HSK 2.0 Level 5Emotions & Feelings

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