不外乎 (bú wài hū) — nothing more than, boils down to, not beyond the scope of

Definition

A formal written phrase meaning 'boils down to' or 'nothing more than' — used to summarize or limit something to a small set of possibilities (often followed by a number: 不外乎两点).

verb
nothing more thanboils down tonot beyond the scope of

Examples

  • 不外乎：、、。
    Tā shī bài de yuán yīn bú wài hū nà jǐ zhǒng: bú gòu nǔ lì, fāng fǎ bú duì, yùn qì bù hǎo.
    The reasons for his failure boil down to a few: not working hard enough, wrong method, and bad luck.
  • 不外乎：。
    Wèn tí de hé xīn bú wài hū yí gè: rú hé tí gāo xiào lǜ.
    The core of the problem is nothing more than one thing: how to improve efficiency.
  • 不外乎：。
    Zhè xiē jiàn yì de nèi róng bú wài hū liǎng diǎn: jié yuē chéng běn hé tí gāo zhì liàng.
    The content of these suggestions boils down to two points: cutting costs and improving quality.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

不外not outside
不bùnot外wàioutside
偏正Modifier + head
乎hūparticle

不 and 外 give not outside, and 乎 sets the scope, so it means nothing beyond that.

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 →

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
卜卜bǔ
Sound part声符shēngfú
月
月yuè外wài
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.

Open 外 →

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

  • 丂丂kǎobranch

The old 乎 paired an element for wind or air with 丂, a branch used as a sound part, and was the original form of the word for 'to call; to cry'.

Open 乎 →

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