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居高不下 (jū gāo bú xià) — (of prices, rates, etc.) to remain high; to keep rising and not come down

Definition

Highlights numbers (prices, rates) staying HIGH without dropping — not the act of rising. Contrast with 攀升 (rising further) and 上调 (an active upward adjustment).

phrase
(of prices, rates, etc.) to remain highto keep rising and not come down

Examples

  • ，居高不下，。
    Jìn nián lái, fáng jià jū gāo bú xià, nián qīng rén gòu fáng yā lì hěn dà.
    In recent years, house prices have remained high, putting great pressure on young people to buy homes.
  • 居高不下。
    Shī yè lǜ jū gāo bú xià dǎo zhì shè huì bù wěn dìng yīn sù zēng jiā.
    The persistently high unemployment rate has increased factors of social instability.
  • 居高不下，。
    Tōng huò péng zhàng lǜ jū gāo bú xià, lǎo bǎi xìng de shēng huó chéng běn yuè lái yuè gāo.
    The inflation rate remains high, making the cost of living increasingly high for ordinary people.

Origin

Characters in this word

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
尸尸shī
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ居jū
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

居 is built from 尸 as the meaning part and 古 (gǔ) as the sound part.

Open 居 →

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

高 was drawn as a tall building.

Open 高 →

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 →

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

下 is drawn as a short horizontal line below a long curved line.

Open 下 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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