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不肖 (bú xiào) — (literary) degenerate, unworthy (especially of one's ancestors)

Definition

Literary adjective for morally 'unworthy' — typically used of descendants who disgrace their ancestors (不肖子孙). Stronger and more familial than 堕落 ('depraved'), which describes general moral fall.

adjective
(literary) degenerateunworthy (especially of one's ancestors)

Examples

  • 不肖，。
    Tā bèi chēng wéi bú xiào zǐ sūn, ràng zhěng gè jiā zú méng xiū.
    He is called an unworthy descendant, bringing shame to the whole family.
  • 不肖。
    Zhè zhǒng bú xiào de xíng wéi shí zài lìng rén bù chǐ.
    This kind of degenerate behavior is truly despicable.
  • 不肖，。
    Zuò wéi bú xiào zhī zǐ, tā gū fù le fù qīn de qī wàng.
    As an unworthy son, he let down his father's expectations.

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
肖xiàoresemble

不 means not and 肖 means resemble, so it describes someone as not resembling one's parents.

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
月月yuèmoon
Sound part声符shēngfú
小
小xiǎo肖xiào
Same sound today

肖 combines 小, which gives the sound, with 月, the moon.

Open 肖 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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