赔不是 (péi bú shì) — to apologize (often by admitting one's fault)

Definition

A colloquial verb meaning to apologize, usually by admitting fault. Less formal than 道歉.

verb

to apologize (often by admitting one's fault)

赔不是。
Nǐ kuài diǎn qù gěi tā péi bú shì ba.
Hurry up and go apologize to him.
，。
Tā zuò cuò liǎo shì, bì xū péi gè bú shì.
He did something wrong and must make an apology.
赔不是，。
Tā yǐ jīng gēn wǒ péi bú shì le, wǒ jiù yuán liàng tā le.
She already apologized to me, so I forgave her.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

赔péicompensate

不是fault

偏正Modifier + head

“赔” means to compensate and “不是” means the wrong, so it means to apologize by making up for a fault.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 賠; 赔 is its simplified writing.

貝咅賠

Meaning part形符xíngfú

貝貝bèishell; money

Sound part声符shēngfú

咅

咅pǒu賠péi

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 賠, 貝 (shell; money) shows the idea of making amends, and 咅 supplies the sound; the simplified 赔 is a later shorthand.

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.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.