顾不得 (gù bu de) — cannot spare time to attend to; have no choice but to disregard

Definition

顾不得 means being too rushed or pressured to attend to something else — you can't spare the time or attention for it. It's stronger than 顾不上, which just means 'can't get around to it'; 顾不得 adds a sense of urgency or necessity to disregard.

verb
cannot spare time to attend tohave no choice but to disregard

Examples

  • 顾不得。
    Tā máng dé lián chī fàn dōu gù bu de le.
    He was so busy he couldn't even spare time to eat.
  • 顾不得。
    Dì zhèn shí rén men gù bu de shōu shi xíng li jiù pǎo chū qù le.
    During the earthquake, people didn't have time to pack — they just ran out.
  • ，顾不得。
    Wèi le zhǔn shí gǎn dào jī chǎng, wǒ gù bu de tiān qì hǎo bu hǎo le.
    To get to the airport on time, I had to forget about whether the weather was good or not.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

顾gùlook after
不得cannot
不bùnot得décan
偏正Modifier + head

顾 names looking after, while 不得 says it cannot be done, giving the sense of unable to attend to something.

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 →

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 →

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