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不行 (bù xíng) — won't do; not work; not acceptable; not capable; not good at; (after 得) extremely, awfully

Definition

After 得 (得…不行), 不行 means 'extremely' — same construction as 不亦乐乎, but 不行 is the everyday, HSK 3 way to say it. As a verb/adjective, it means 'won't do, not acceptable, not good at'.

won't donot worknot acceptablenot capablenot good at(after 得) extremelyawfully
Easily confused

Examples

  • 不行。
    Zhè ge bàn fǎ bù xíng.
    This method won't work.
  • 不行，。
    Tā zuò fàn bù xíng, zǒng shì hěn nán chī.
    He's no good at cooking; it's always terrible.
  • 不行，。
    Wǒ máng dé bù xíng, jīn tiān méi shí jiān chū qù.
    I'm extremely busy; I have no time to go out today.

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
行xíngwork or be acceptable

不 means not and 行 means work or be acceptable, so the word means won't do.

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 →

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

  • 彳彳chì
  • 亍亍chù

The shape of 行 originally showed a street intersection, even on both sides. Later it became uneven, with 彳 on the left and 亍 on the right.

Open 行 →

Grammar

Appears in
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