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不用 (bù yòng) — need not, don't have to

Definition

不用 means 'need not / don't have to' — softer and more colloquial than the written 不必. Unlike 不要, it forbids nothing; it just says something isn't necessary.

adverb
need notdon't have to

Examples

  • 不用，。
    Nǐ bù yòng qù, wǒ zài jiā děng nǐ.
    You don't have to go; I'll wait for you at home.
  • 不用。
    Wǒ men bù yòng mǎi tài duō dōng xī.
    We don't need to buy too many things.
  • 不用，。
    Tā bù yòng lái, wǒ men sān gè jiù gòu le.
    He doesn't need to come; the three of us are enough.

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
用yòngneed/use

不 negates 用, which expresses need or use, so it means there is no need to do something.

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.

用 was formed by adding a handle to an earlier form.

Open 用 →

Grammar

Appears in
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