不可限量 (bù kě xiàn liàng) — limitless (of future potential, prospects, or talent)

Definition

Set phrase used to praise someone's future potential, talent, or prospects as boundless and immeasurable. Often appears in evaluative or encouraging statements about a person.

idiom
limitless (of future potential, prospects, or talent)

Examples

  • 不可限量。
    Zhè ge nián qīng yǎn yuán qián tú bù kě xiàn liàng.
    This young actor has a limitless future.
  • ，不可限量。
    Zhǐ yào nǔ lì, nǐ de fā zhǎn kōng jiān bù kě xiàn liàng.
    As long as you work hard, your room for growth is limitless.
  • 不可限量，。
    Tā de cái huá bù kě xiàn liàng, yí dìng huì chéng gōng.
    His talent is immeasurable; he will surely succeed.

Origin

Characters in this word

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.

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Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
口口kǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
丂
丂kǎo可kě
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

可 pairs 口 (mouth) with 丂 as a sound part; it is tied to air from the mouth, perhaps singing.

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Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
⻖Written in full as阜fùmound
Sound part声符shēngfú
艮
艮gèn限xiàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

限 pairs ⻖ (mound, written 阜) with 艮 as a sound part; the mound side gives the sense of a boundary or limit.

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

  • 日日rìsun
  • 東東dōngbag; east

量 has 日 (sun) over 東 (bag; east). Some explanations suggest measuring under the sun or the sun rising in the east, but the exact origin is unclear.

Open 量 →

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