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了不得 (liǎo bu dé) — (stative verb) terrific, extraordinary, exceptionally good; (stative verb) terrible, awful, extremely bad; (used as a complement after adjectives or verbs) extremely, to an extreme degree

Definition

了不得 (liǎobude) means 'extraordinary' and works in two directions: 'terrific' (positive) or 'terrible' (negative), depending on context. It can also follow an adjective or verb as a complement to mean 'extremely', as in 高兴得了不得.

adjective
(stative verb) terrificextraordinaryexceptionally good(stative verb) terribleawfulextremely bad(used as a complement after adjectives or verbs) extremelyto an extreme degree

Examples

  • 了不得，。
    Tā zhēn liǎo bu dé, ná le dì yī míng.
    He is really extraordinary; he got first place.
  • 了不得，。
    Zhè jiàn shì tài liǎo bu dé liǎo, wǒ men dōu hěn dān xīn.
    This matter is too terrible; we are all very worried.
  • 。
    Tā gāo xìng dé liǎo bu dé.
    He is extremely happy.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

了liǎofinish/understand
不得cannot
不bùnot得déget/able
偏正Modifier + head

了 conveys finishing or understanding, 不 conveys not, and 得 conveys being able, together meaning something too great or bad to ignore.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

了 was once drawn to show a baby with no arms; some old comments say it showed crossed or tangled legs.

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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.

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

The old form 㝵 showed a hand picking up a cowry, meaning to obtain; later changes turned that picture into 得.

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