不 (bù) — no, not (negates verbs and adjectives)
Definition
不 (bù) is the everyday 'no / not' — it negates verbs, adjectives, and 有. It is the standard spoken negation; 未 is its formal/literary counterpart (e.g. in writing).
adverb
nonot (negates verbs and adjectives)
Examples
- 不。Wǒ bù chī píng guǒ.I don't eat apples.
- 不。Tā bù xǐ huan tā.She doesn't like him.
- 。Tā bù shì lǎo shī.He is not a teacher.
Origin
Pictograph六书liùshū
象形xiàngxíngA 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.
Grammar
Appears in
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