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看不起 (kàn bu qǐ) — to look down on, to despise

Definition

看不起 is an everyday, spoken verb meaning 'to look down on' people for who they are. It's a separable verb (看得/不起) and weaker in tone than written words like 鄙视 or 蔑视.

verb
to look down onto despise

Examples

  • 看不起。
    Tā zǒng kàn bu qǐ zì jǐ de tóng shì.
    He always looks down on his own colleagues.
  • 看不起。
    Tā yīn wèi jiā lǐ qióng ér bèi rén kàn bu qǐ.
    She is looked down upon because her family is poor.
  • 看不起。
    Zhè zhǒng kàn bu qǐ rén de tài dù hěn bù hǎo.
    This kind of attitude of looking down on others is very bad.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

看kànlook
不起not able to rise
不bùnot起qǐrise
偏正Modifier + head

看 'look' plus 不起 'not able to rise' suggests not raising one's eyes, hence despising.

Characters in this word

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

The shape 看 puts 手 (hand) over 目 (eye), showing a hand placed above the eyes to gaze into the distance.

Open 看 →

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
走走zǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
巳
巳sì起qǐ
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

起 is made from 走 and 巳: 走 is the part connected with walking or running, and 巳 gives the sound.

Open 起 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6HSK 2.0 Level 5Attitudes & Opinions

Browse more HSK 6 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.