不善言辞 (bú shàn yán cí) — inarticulate; not good at expressing oneself in words

Definition

A descriptive predicate meaning someone struggles to express themselves well in speech — a state, not a one-time act. Note the negative form: negate the whole phrase (他并不不善言辞), not the verb.

verb
inarticulatenot good at expressing oneself in words

Examples

  • 不善言辞，。
    Tā bú shàn yán cí, suǒ yǐ kāi huì shí hěn shǎo fā yán.
    He is not good at expressing himself, so he rarely speaks at meetings.
  • 不善言辞，。
    Suī rán tā bú shàn yán cí, dàn xiě wén zhāng què hěn yǒu shēn dù.
    Although she is inarticulate, her writing is very profound.
  • 不善言辞，。
    Wǒ zhè ge rén bú shàn yán cí, bú tài huì liáo tiān.
    I'm not good with words, so I'm not very good at chatting.

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.

Open 不 →

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

An earlier form of 善 joined 羊, a sheep linked with goodness or beauty, and 誩, described as a wrangle; the reference says this meaning link is hard to understand.

Open 善 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

The early form of 言 shows an opening and a mark indicating a location; the location is not described as the source of speech.

Open 言 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 辞 →

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