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难保 (nán bǎo) — can't guarantee; can't say for sure; difficult to protect/keep/preserve (less common)

Definition

难保 (nán bǎo) means 'cannot guarantee' — used before a negative outcome to express that something is hard to be sure of or prevent. Common in the pattern 难保不… (e.g. 难保不下雨).

adjective
can't guaranteecan't say for suredifficult to protect/keep/preserve (less common)

Examples

  • 难保。
    Jīn tiān nán bǎo bú xià yǔ.
    You can't guarantee it won't rain today.
  • ，难保。
    Zhè me wǎn le, tā nán bǎo bù lái.
    It's so late; there's no guarantee he'll come.
  • ，难保。
    Rú guǒ bù hǎo hǎo zhǔn bèi, kǎo shì nán bǎo bù jí gé.
    If you don't prepare well, it's hard to guarantee you won't fail the exam.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

难nándifficult
保bǎoguarantee

难 gives difficult and 保 gives guarantee, together meaning one cannot say for sure.

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 難; 难 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
隹隹zhuībird
Sound part声符shēngfú
暵
暵hàn難nán
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional 難 pairs 隹, a bird, with 暵 for sound, and meant a type of bird. It was later borrowed for other meanings; the modern 难 is a shorthand.

Open 难 →

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

保 originally showed a person 人 carrying a child 子 on their back, which led to the sense of protecting.

Open 保 →
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