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夜不能寐 (yè bù néng mèi) — unable to sleep at night (due to worry, anxiety, or excitement)

Definition

A literary four-character idiom meaning 'cannot sleep at night', often due to worry, anxiety, or strong emotion. Far more formal and written than the everyday 睡不着 (shuì bù zháo).

verb
unable to sleep at night (due to worry, anxiety, or excitement)

Examples

  • ，夜不能寐。
    Tā zuì jìn yā lì hěn dà, cháng cháng yè bù néng mèi.
    He's been under a lot of pressure lately, often unable to sleep at night.
  • ，夜不能寐。
    Tā yīn wèi kǎo shì de shì qing, yǐ jīng lián xù jǐ tiān yè bù néng mèi le.
    Because of the exam, she's been unable to sleep at night for several days straight.
  • ，夜不能寐。
    Tīng dào zhè ge xiāo xi, tā jī dòng dé yè bù néng mèi.
    Hearing the news, he was so excited that he couldn't sleep at night.

Origin

Characters in this word

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
夕夕xīmoon
Sound part声符shēngfú
亦
亦yì夜yè
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The form 夜 pairs 亦 as a sound part with 夕 as a moon part, for night. In the modern shape, the 亦 part is broken up and one stroke merges into 夕.

Open 夜 →

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 →

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

能 is an old picture of a bear, showing two paws and a face with an open mouth.

Open 能 →

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
㝱㝱㝱dream
Sound part声符shēngfú
未
未wèi寐mèi
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The current 寐 uses 㝱 for dream and 未 for the sound. An earlier form may have shown a person sleeping on a bed in a room.

Appears in
Daily RoutineIdioms & Set Phrases

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