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得不偿失 (dé bù cháng shī) — the gains do not make up for the losses; the cost outweighs the benefit

Definition

A chengyu used to judge a trade-off: the gain is not worth the loss. Use it to warn against actions whose downsides outweigh any small upside.

phrase
the gains do not make up for the lossesthe cost outweighs the benefit

Examples

  • ，，得不偿失。
    Rú guǒ wèi le shěng qián ér mǎi pián yi huò, zuì hòu huài le zài mǎi, zhēn shì dé bù cháng shī.
    If you buy cheap goods to save money, and then they break and you have to buy again, it's truly a case where the gains don't make up for the losses.
  • ，，得不偿失。
    Tā wèi le duō zhuàn yì diǎn qián ér fàng qì xiū xi shí jiān, jié guǒ shēn tǐ gǎo huài le, zhēn shì dé bù cháng shī.
    He gave up rest time to earn a little more money, and ended up ruining his health — truly the gains don't make up for the losses.
  • ，，得不偿失。
    Yòng gāo jià mǎi dī zhì liàng de chǎn pǐn, zuì hòu hái yào huā qián xiū lǐ, zhēn shì dé bù cháng shī.
    Buying low-quality products at high prices and then having to spend money on repairs — truly the gains don't make up for the losses.

Origin

Characters in this word

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 →

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 償; 偿 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rén
Sound part声符shēngfú
賞
賞shǎng償cháng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 償 pairs 亻 (person) with 賞 as the sound part; the simplified 偿 is a later shorthand, not a historical component breakdown.

Open 偿 →

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

The shape is explained as a fallen person's footprint surrounded by drops of blood; another reading pairs 手 (hand) and 乙 to show something falling from a hand.

Open 失 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6

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