且不说 (qiě bù shuō) — leaving aside; not to mention; let alone

Definition

A discourse marker meaning 'let alone' — it sets aside a weaker claim (introduced with 且不说) in order to highlight an even more striking one. Pairs with the following 连…都/也 to escalate.

verb
leaving asidenot to mentionlet alone

Examples

  • 且不说，。
    qiě bù shuō Yīng yǔ, tā lián fǎ yǔ dōu huì shuō.
    Leaving aside English, he can even speak French.
  • 且不说，。
    qiě bù shuō Chī fàn, tā lián shuì jiào de shí jiān dōu méi yǒu.
    Not to mention eating, he doesn't even have time to sleep.
  • 且不说，。
    qiě bù shuō Zhōu mò xiū xi, tā píng shí xià bān dōu hěn shǎo zhǔn shí.
    Let alone resting on weekends, he seldom leaves work on time even on weekdays.

Origin

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 且 is thought to picture a stone altar, a sacrificial vessel seen from above, or an erect penis.

Open 且 →

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 說; 说 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yán
Sound part声符shēngfú
兌
兌duì說shuō
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 說 pairs 言 (meaning) with 兌 (sound); the simplified 说 is not the form described here.

Open 说 →

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