不理 (bù lǐ) — to ignore, to pay no attention to | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A colloquial verb meaning 'to ignore / not pay attention to' — same idea as 忽视 or 无视, but more casual and everyday, used for people or things. Often takes a person (别理我) or a suggestion/sound as its object.

verb

to ignoreto pay no attention to

Examples

不理。
Bié bù lǐ wǒ.
Don't ignore me.
不理。
Tā wán quán bù lǐ wǒ de jiàn yì.
He completely ignored my suggestion.
，不理。
Tā zhuān xīn kàn shū, bù lǐ zhōu wéi de zào yīn.
She was focused on reading and ignored the noise around her.

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.

理lǐpay attention

'不' means not and '理' means to attend to, so together they mean to ignore.

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

玉玉yùjade

Sound part声符shēngfú

里

里lǐ理lǐ

Same sound today

理 pairs 玉 (jade) with 里, which shows how to say it; the jade part points to the old sense of polishing jade.

Appears in

Communication & Speech

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