无法 (wú fǎ) — unable, incapable | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

无法 means 'unable / no way to (do something)' — a written-form negation of ability or possibility, stronger than the colloquial 没法儿 ('can't, no way'). Pairs with a verb to express impossibility.

verb

unableincapable

Examples

无法。
Wǒ wú fǎ lǐ jiě tā de huà.
I am unable to understand his words.
无法。
Zhè zhǒng qíng kuàng wǒ men wú fǎ kòng zhì.
We cannot control this kind of situation.
无法。
Tā wú fǎ wàng jì guò qù.
She is unable to forget the past.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

无wúno/without

法fǎmethod/way

The sense comes from 无 (no/without) plus 法 (method/way), yielding no way to act.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 無; 无 is its simplified writing.

For the simplified 无, the story is about 無. 無 drew a person dancing with ox tails held in both hands to pray for rain, then was borrowed for 'have no', so the picture does not explain that meaning.

Open 无 →

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

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

廌廌zhìa type of antelope or caprid

Sound part声符shēngfú

盍

盍hé法fǎ

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

法's older form combined 氵 (water) and 廌 (a type of antelope or caprid), with 盍 as a sound part; later 廌 was dropped.

Open 法 →

Appears in