不忍 (bù rěn) — cannot bear to (do something out of pity or compassion)

Definition

不忍 means 'cannot bear to' out of pity or compassion — emotionally driven, not a moral judgment. Negate explicitly with 不忍心; do not confuse with the unrelated verb 忍 ('endure').

auxiliary verb
cannot bear to (do something out of pity or compassion)

Examples

  • ，不忍。
    Tā kàn dào nà zhī shòu shāng de xiǎo māo, bù rěn lí kāi.
    He saw the injured kitten and couldn't bear to leave.
  • 不忍。
    Tā bù rěn gào sù tā zhè ge huài xiāo xi.
    She couldn't bear to tell him the bad news.
  • 不忍。
    Lǎo rén bù rěn kàn dào hái zi men shòu kǔ.
    The old man couldn't bear to see the children suffer.

Origin

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bùnot
忍rěnbear

The 不 'not' and 忍 'bear' combine to mean 'cannot bear to'.

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
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
刃
刃rèn忍rěn
Same sound today

忍 combines 心 (heart) and 刃 (blade). The 刃 part provides the sound, and the 心 part is the heart.

Open 忍 →

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