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不见得 (bú jiàn dé) — not necessarily; may not

Definition

不见得 means 'not necessarily' — it expresses doubt about a likely-looking outcome. Use it before verbs/adjectives; 未必 is interchangeable, while 不必 and 无须 mean 'don't have to' (no need), not doubt.

adverb
not necessarilymay not

Examples

  • 不见得。
    Tā bú jiàn dé zhī dào zhè jiàn shì.
    He may not necessarily know about this matter.
  • 不见得。
    Zhè ge fāng àn bú jiàn dé zuì hǎo.
    This plan is not necessarily the best.
  • 不见得。
    Tā shuō de huà bú jiàn dé shì zhēn de.
    What he said is not necessarily true.

Origin

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 見; 见 is its simplified writing.

  • 目目mùeye
  • 卩卩jiékneeling person

The traditional form 見 pairs 目 (eye) with 卩 (kneeling person), showing a kneeling figure with a large eye for a head. The simplified 见 is a later shorthand.

Open 见 →

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

The old form 㝵 showed a hand picking up a cowry, meaning to obtain; later changes turned that picture into 得.

Open 得 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 5

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