只得 (zhǐ dé) — to have no choice but to; to be obliged to
Definition
只得 (zhǐ dé) means 'to have no choice but to,' often from external circumstances rather than a personal rule. Closer to 只好 than to the pure-ability 只能.
adverb
to have no choice but toto be obliged to
Examples
- ，只得。Yīn wèi tiān qì bù hǎo, wǒ men zhǐ dé qǔ xiāo háng bān.Because the weather was bad, we had no choice but to cancel the flight.
- ，只得。Tā shēng bìng le, zhǐ dé tuī chí huì yì.He got sick and had to postpone the meeting.
- ，只得。Kǎo shì qián méi fù xí, wǒ zhǐ dé yìng zhe tóu pí qù kǎo.I didn't review before the exam, so I had no choice but to go take it anyway.
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.
The sense of 只 meaning only combined with 得 meaning get gives nothing else can be obtained but this, hence being forced to do it.
Appears in
Browse more HSK 6 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.