无理 (wú lǐ) — unreasonable; irrational

Definition

Used to judge a person's actions, demands, or arguments as groundless and unjustified. Like 不像话 and 离谱, it criticizes behavior — but 无理 focuses on the lack of a valid reason rather than the shock or outrage those words highlight.

verb

unreasonableirrational

Examples

无理。
Zhè ge yāo qiú hěn wú lǐ.
This request is very unreasonable.
无理，。
Tā shuō huà zǒng shì nà me wú lǐ, méi rén xǐ huan gēn tā zhēng lùn.
He always speaks so unreasonably; nobody likes to argue with him.
无理，。
Nǐ zhè yàng zuò tài wú lǐ le, lián nǐ de péng you dōu kàn bú xià qù le.
What you did is so unreasonable that even your friends can't stand it.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

无wúhave no

理lǐreason

无 (have no) and 理 (reason) together mean lacking reason or being unreasonable.

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

玉玉yùjade

Sound part声符shēngfú

里

里lǐ理lǐ

Same sound today

理 pairs 玉 (jade) with 里, which shows how to say it; the jade part points to the old sense of polishing jade.

Open 理 →

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Good & Bad