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不胜 (bù shèng) — to be overwhelmed by; cannot bear; (in fixed phrases before verbs) to be extremely; cannot V enough

Definition

不胜 is a literary/archaic verb used mainly in set phrases (不胜感激, 不胜枚举, 不胜其烦) to mean 'overwhelmed by / extremely'. It is not used as a standalone verb in everyday speech.

verb
to be overwhelmed bycannot bear(in fixed phrases before verbs) to be extremelycannot V enough

Examples

  • ，不胜。
    Duì yú nǐ de bāng zhù, wǒ bù shèng gǎn jī.
    I am extremely grateful for your help.
  • 。
    Zhè yàng de lì zi bù shèng méi jǔ.
    Such examples are too numerous to list individually.
  • ，不胜。
    Tā měi tiān jiā bān, yǐ jīng bù shèng qí fán le.
    He works overtime every day and can no longer bear the annoyance.

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
胜shèngbear

不 (not) and 胜 (bear, finish) combine to mean cannot bear or be overwhelmed, also extremely.

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
肉肉ròumeat
Sound part声符shēngfú
生
生shēng胜shèng
Same sound today

The simplified 胜 changes the traditional 勝 by replacing part of its sound side with 生; the left 肉 relates to meat.

Open 胜 →
Appears in
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