入不敷出 (rù bù fū chū) — to be unable to make ends meet; income cannot c…

Definition

A chengyu meaning income cannot cover expenses — used when spending outpaces earnings, typically about personal finances or a business's bottom line.

idiom

to be unable to make ends meetincome cannot cover expenses

，入不敷出。
Tā zuì jìn huā qián tài duō, yǐ jīng rù bù fū chū le.
He's been spending too much lately and is already unable to make ends meet.
，，入不敷出，。
Zhè jiā gōng sī zhuàn dé shǎo, huā dé duō, rù bù fū chū, zuì hòu dǎo bì le.
This company earned little but spent a lot, couldn't make ends meet, and eventually went bankrupt.
入不敷出，。
Rú guǒ bù xiǎng rù bù fū chū, jiù yào xué huì lǐ cái.
If you don't want to be unable to make ends meet, you need to learn financial management.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

入 is drawn as an arrowhead, indicating 'to enter'.

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.

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

攵Written in full as攴pūhand with whip; action

Sound part声符shēngfú

尃

尃fū敷fū

Same sound today

敷 pairs 尃, giving its sound and the sense of distribute, with 攵, a hand with whip showing action.

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

出 combines 止 (foot) and 凵 (cave) to show a foot stepping out of a cave.

Appears in