顾不了 (gù bù liǎo) — cannot take care of; have to disregard; be unable to attend to

Definition

A resultative form: 顾 (take care of / attend to) plus the negative potential complement 了, meaning 'cannot attend to / have to disregard'. Often appears as an apology or an admission of being overwhelmed.

verb
cannot take care ofhave to disregardbe unable to attend to

Examples

  • ，顾不了。
    Wǒ tài máng le, gù bù liǎo nà me duō shì le.
    I'm too busy — I can't take care of so many things.
  • 顾不了，。
    Tā gù bù liǎo zì jǐ de jiàn kāng, tiān tiān áo yè gōng zuò.
    He has to disregard his own health, staying up late working every day.
  • ，顾不了，。
    Duì bu qǐ, gù bù liǎo nǐ le, wǒ dé xiān zǒu.
    Sorry, I can't look after you — I have to go first.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 顧; 顾 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
頁頁yè
Sound part声符shēngfú
雇
雇gù顧gù
Same sound today

The traditional form 顧 combines 雇 as a sound part and 頁 as a meaning part; 顾 is the simplified form of 顧.

Open 顾 →

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.

了 was once drawn to show a baby with no arms; some old comments say it showed crossed or tangled legs.

Open 了 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.