不 bù — not, no — the general negative, placed before verbs and adjectives

bù

not, no — the general negative, placed before verbs and adjectives

4 strokesRadical 一Frequency #4

Words containing 不 Character writing lab Ask the AI tutor

Pinyin

bù (fourth tone, falling)

not, no — the general negative, placed before verbs and adjectives

Character breakdown

不shape partA single graph, filed under the long horizontal 一 that it hangs from.

Mnemonic

Four strokes hanging from the long horizontal that the dictionary files it under. The picture beneath is a plant: the calyx of a flower with the roots below it. Nothing in the drawing is negative — the word bù merely sounded like it and took the graph over. What has to be drilled instead is the tone. 不 is fourth tone by itself and before first, second and third tones (不大, 不来, 不好), but shifts to bú before another fourth tone: 不是 bú shì, 不客气 bú kèqi.

A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.

不 bù — not, no — the general negative, placed before verbs and adjectives

Pinyin

Character breakdown

Mnemonic

Words containing 不

Radical 一 — other characters