不

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See also 唔

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Translingual[edit]

Stroke order
不-order.gif
Stroke order
不-bw.png

Phonosemantic interpretation[edit]

Old Chinese Initial /*p-/ lends semantic value Spread. Vowel /*-ua-/ lends semantic value Curving/Round. Pictogram (象形) of a figure spreading his arms to signify refusal or negation → not; un-. Compare 払 and 非. Source: Howell & Morimoto

Etymology[edit]

Ideogram (指事) 不 originated as a pictographic character which depicted the calyx of a flower. However, early inventors of the Chinese writing system found it difficult to find a pictograph that could represent the abstract concept of "negative," and 不 probably sounded like the word "no" (Pinyin: bù or fǒu in modern Mandarin). As time passed, some elected to add a mouth to the bottom of the character (否) in order to distinguish it from the original word. The meaning for "no" also came to be associated with 不(calyx). A new character was eventually chosen to represent the original meaning (柎, Pinyin: fū).

不 不 不 不
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Large seal script Small seal script

Han character[edit]

不 (radical 1 一+3, 4 strokes, cangjie input 一火 (MF), four-corner 10900)

  1. no, not
  2. un-
  3. negation prefix

Descendants[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  • KangXi: page 76, character 15
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 19
  • Dae Jaweon: page 149, character 4
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 11, character 6
  • Unihan data for U+4E0D

Cantonese[edit]

Hanzi[edit]

不 (jyutping bat1, Yale bat1, fau2)

Japanese[edit]

Kanji[edit]

不 (grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. not, non-, un-

Readings[edit]

Compounds[edit]

Compounds

Prefix[edit]

不 (hiragana ふ, romaji fu-)

  1. un-, non-, in-

不 (hiragana ぶ, romaji bu-)

  1. un-, non-, in-
  2. bad, poor

Korean[edit]

Hanja[edit]

不
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul): 부, 불, 비 (revised: bu, bul, bi, McCune-Reischauer: pu, pul, pi, Yale: pwu, pwu, pi)
  • Name (hangeul): 아닐, 아닐, 클 (revised: anil, anil, keul, McCune-Reischauer: anil, anil, k'ǔl, Yale: anil, anil, khul)

References[edit]

Mandarin[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Adverb[edit]

不 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin bù)

  1. not
    • John 1.5
      光照在黑暗里，黑暗却不接受光。
      Guāng zhào zaì hēiàn lǐ, hēi'àn què bù jiēshòu guāng.
      And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
    我不是丹麦人. — “I am not Danish.” (Literally, “I not am Danish.”)

Prefix[edit]

不 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin bù)

  1. no; un-; negation prefix
    你是丹麦人吗?不是. — “Are you Danish? No.” (Literally, “You are Danish? Not are.”)

Hanzi[edit]

不 (pinyin bù (bu4), Wade-Giles pu4)

Usage notes[edit]

  • The tone changes from fourth to second tone when followed by a fourth-tone syllable.

Compounds[edit]

compound words that contain 不

Proverbs[edit]

Middle Chinese[edit]

Han character[edit]

不 (*biət, pǝw)

Vietnamese[edit]

Han character[edit]

不 (bất, phầu, phủ, phi)

Readings[edit]

References[edit]

  • Thiều Chửu : Hán Việt Tự Điển Hà Nội 1942
  • Trần Văn Chánh: Từ Điển Hán Việt NXB Trẻ, Ho Chi Minh Ville, 1999
  • Vũ Văn Kính: Đại Tự Điển Chữ Nôm , NXB Văn Nghệ, Ho Chi Minh Ville, 1999
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