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不错 (bù cuò) — not bad, pretty good; correct, right

Definition

不错 is mostly used as a casual compliment meaning 'pretty good, not bad' (movies, food, work). For 'correct/right', 对 is the everyday word; 不错 there means 'you got it right' — 对 directly states correctness.

adjective
not badpretty goodcorrectright
Easily confused

Examples

  • 不错。
    Zhè ge diàn yǐng hěn bù cuò.
    This movie is pretty good.
  • 不错。
    Nǐ de hàn yǔ shuō dé bù cuò.
    Your Chinese is not bad.
  • 不错。
    Nǐ zuò dé bù cuò.
    You did it well / You did it correctly.

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
错cuòwrong

不 negates 错 (wrong), so 'not wrong' developed into 'correct, pretty good'.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 錯; 错 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
金金jīnmetal
Sound part声符shēngfú
昔
昔xī錯cuò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 錯 pairs 金 (metal) with 昔 as a sound part; the simplified 错 is a later abbreviation.

Open 错 →
Appears in
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