不外 (bù wài) — to be nothing more than; to boil down to; simpl…

Definition

Set-pattern head meaning 'nothing more than / boils down to', usually followed by 乎 or 是…而已. Read as a fixed phrase, not as a negator + 外面.

verb

to be nothing more thanto boil down tosimplybasically

：。
Shī bài de yuán yīn bù wài hū liǎng diǎn: zhǔn bèi bù zú hé jīng yàn bú gòu.
The reasons for failure boil down to two points: insufficient preparation and lack of experience.
不外。
Tā de yāo qiú bù wài jǐ gè jī běn tiáo jiàn.
His demands are nothing more than a few basic conditions.
，不外。
Suǒ wèi kē xué fāng fǎ, bù wài shí shì qiú shì ér yǐ.
The so-called scientific method is simply seeking truth from facts.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

不 means 'not' and 外 means 'outside', so the whole says not beyond.

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.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

月

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

外 pairs 卜 with 月, a crescent moon; in its older form, the 卜 part had a horizontal bar extending outward, giving the sense of outside.