差不离 (chà bù lí) — almost; nearly; about; approximately; not bad; acceptable

Definition

Colloquial 北方 expression for 'almost / about / not bad' rolled into one. Use in casual speech to mean 'close enough' — roughly the same as 差不多 but more informal.

verb
almostnearlyaboutapproximatelynot badacceptable

Examples

  • 差不离，。
    Zhè xiàng gōng zuò chà bù lí wán chéng le, zài gǎi yí xià jiù xíng.
    This task is almost finished; just tweak it a bit and it's done.
  • 差不离，。
    Tā chà bù lí sān shí suì, kàn zhe hěn nián qīng.
    He's about thirty years old and looks very young.
  • 差不离，。
    Zhè ge diàn yǐng pāi dé chà bù lí, zhí dé yí kàn.
    This movie is not bad — worth watching.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

差chàdifference
不离
不bùnot离líapart
偏正Modifier + head

差 names a difference and 不离 means not far apart, so the gap is small.

Characters in this word

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

  • 來來láiwheat
  • 𠂇𠂇𠂇left hand

差 pairs 來 (wheat) with 𠂇 (left hand), showing wheat rubbed in a hand to remove its hull.

Open 差 →

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 離; 离 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
隹隹zhuībird
Sound part声符shēngfú
离
离lí離lí
Same sound today

The traditional form 離 pairs 隹, a bird, with the sound part 离; the simplified 离 is a shorthand. This form first wrote a black-naped oriole, and the sound was borrowed for 'leave'.

Open 离 →

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