不 - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

See also: 𣎴 and 𤓯

不 (Kangxi radical 1, 一+3, 4 strokes, cangjie input 一火 (MF), four-corner 1090₀, composition ⿸丆⿰丨丶(GHJKT) or ⿻丆卜(V))

This character is not to be confused with visually similar but unrelated 𣎴 (U+233B4) or 𤓯 (U+244EF).

• 伓, 吥, 坏, 妚, 怀, 抔, 㳅, 还, 阫, 肧, 杯, 炋, 环, 𭾟, 𥐴, 紑, 𦤹, 𧉈, 𰀍, 衃, 䞜, 鈈 (钚), 䬪, 𡮗, 鴀 (𫛜), 㞸, 芣, 罘, 𮅁, 䯱, 丕, 𰀲, 㔻, 否, 奀, 㫘, 㶪, 𠀱, 㶨, 𠀰, 甭, 盃, 歪, 𧖯, 𧗩, 𠀾, 孬, 覔, 𠁆, 䬩, 嫑, 𧶏, 𠁙, 𠁞, 囨

• ふ (Hiragana character derived from Man'yōgana)
• フ (Katakana character derived from Man'yōgana)

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

• Unihan data for U+F967

Pictogram (象形) : the calyx of a flower. 不 was then composed into a phono-semantic character with the pictograph for mouth (口), to form 否 (OC *brɯʔ, *pɯʔ), representing “no” (negation). This composed meaning then spread back to the original character 不, making it a synonym of 否. A new character of 柎 (OC *po) was eventually created to represent the original meaning of calyx.

Following Shuowen’s interpretation, Karlgren and Wieger interpret it as a bird flying toward the sky (一). The sky being the limit for the bird, thus the idea of negation.

Old Chinese had two sets of negatives: the initial *p-series and the initial *m-series. 不 is the prototype of the *p-series of negatives. Although it is the usual Literary Chinese negative attested from the oracle bone script down, its current usage is now confined to Mandarin dialects. In the oracle bone inscriptions, a total of five negative particles can be found: 不, 弗, 毋, 勿 and 非. With the exception of 非 (discussed later), the remaining can be neatly organised into the following system:

Takahashi (1996) argued that the *m-type negatives are modal (i.e. negative verbs which are thought of as controllable by the Shang), whereas the *p-type negatives are non-modal (imply uncontrollability; actions which are beyond the control of living persons).

In the *p-series, 不 usually goes with intransitive verbs in the oracle bone script, and 弗 (OC *pɯd) with transitive ones, although there are some glaring exceptions. Little or no pattern can be discerned in the *m-type category. Takahashi (1996) also proposed that the difference between the two vowel series was whether they preceded “stative, eventive, passive” (*-V series) or “non-stative, non-eventive, active” (*-ɯd series) verbs.

It is possible that the two parallel series of negatives in Old Chinese represent a fusion of the common Sino–Tibetan *ma (“no, not”) (carried by the eastward-migrating early Sino–Tibetans) and an indigenous negation system in Central China, and that the merger had been complete by the Shang times. Compare a similar system in Proto-Tai: *ɓawᴮ (“not [strong form 1]”), *boːᴮ (“not [strong form 2]”), *miːᴬ (“not [weak form]”); Thai บ่ (bɔ̀ɔ, “(literary, archaic, dialectal) not”).

The development from Old Chinese to Middle Chinese was not regular. The character 不 replaced 弗 (OC *pɯd, MC *piut), to respect the naming taboo for Emperor Zhao of Han, although the pronunciation has remained in nearly all topolects (e.g. Beijing Mandarin bù, Guangzhou Cantonese bat¹, Meixian Hakka bud⁵, Shanghainese Wu peq). The Modern Standard Mandarin pronunciation is also from this checked coda word, but this word escaped from regular sound changes during its evolution to the modern pronunciation bù. The expected reading is fu (tone undetermined), with labiodentalisation. The rising-tone pronunciation had a Middle Chinese homophone 否 (“not”), which is now primarily used in compounds, and demonstrates the regular development into modern f-. Another example of a high-frequency word escaping this sound change is 父 (OC *paʔ, *baʔ, “dad”), which resulted in the late coinage of the character 爸 (bà).

不 is cognate with other negation particles in the *p-type category:

• 弗 (OC *pɯd, “not”);
• 非 (OC *pɯj, “not be; not”) – can be safely regarded as a fusion of 不 (OC *pɯ, *pɯʔ, *pɯ', “not”) and 惟 (OC *ɢʷi, “to be”);
• 否 (OC *brɯʔ, *pɯʔ, “not; to be wrong”);
• 匪 (OC *pɯjʔ, “it is not; to be not”); and
• 棐 (OC *pɯjʔ, “it is not; to be not”).

Cognate with Thai บ่ (bɔ̀ɔ, “(literary, archaic, dialectal) not”) (Schuessler, 2007).

不

1. (preceding verbs and adjectives) not

   這個不好。／这个不好。  ―  Zhège bù hǎo.  ―  This is not good.

   他不愛你。／他不爱你。  ―  Tā bú ài nǐ.  ―  He does not love you.

2. (between a verb and a complement) cannot

   Antonym: 得

   我看不見你。／我看不见你。  ―  Wǒ kàn bú jiàn nǐ.  ―  I can't see you.

3. Used as an answer of refutation to a polar question: no (to a positive polar question); yes (to a negative polar question)

   你是日本人嗎？不，我不是。 [MSC, trad.]
   你是日本人吗？不，我不是。 [MSC, simp.]

   Nǐ shì Rìběnrén ma? Bù, wǒ bú shì. [Pinyin]

   Are you Japanese? No, I'm not.

   你不是日本人嗎？不，我是日本人。 [MSC, trad.]
   你不是日本人吗？不，我是日本人。 [MSC, simp.]

   Nǐ bú* shì Rìběnrén ma? Bù, wǒ shì Rìběnrén. [Pinyin]

   *Intonational high pitch here.
   Aren't you Japanese? Yes, I am Japanese.

   • 1965 March 15, “周恩来总理在第三届全国人民代表大会第一次会議上作政府工作报告”, in 中华人民共和国全国人民代表大会常务委員会公报, number 77, page 12:

     难道这是做不到的嗎？是吹牛皮、放大炮嗎？不，是做得到的。旣不是吹牛皮，也不是放大炮。 [MSC, simp.]
     難道這是做不到的嗎？是吹牛皮、放大炮嗎？不，是做得到的。旣不是吹牛皮，也不是放大炮。 [MSC, trad.]

     Nándào zhè shì zuòbudào de ma? Shì chuīniúpí, fàngdàpào ma? Bù, shì zuòdedào de. Jì bùshì chuīniúpí, yě bùshì fàngdàpào. [Pinyin]

     Are these actually unachievable? Is it bragging or big talk? No, these are achievable. It's neither bragging nor big talk.

   • 2011, 盧靜文, 《一生不能不懂的教育學故事》, Taipei: 知青頻道, →ISBN, page 137:

     蘇格拉底還在啟發學生：「你説欺騙朋友是惡行，可是在戰爭時統帥為了鼓舞士氣，會假稱援軍就要到了，實際上並無援軍，你説這種欺騙是惡行嗎？」學生説：「不，這是善行。」 [Taiwanese Mandarin, trad.]
     苏格拉底还在启发学生：「你说欺骗朋友是恶行，可是在战争时统帅为了鼓舞士气，会假称援军就要到了，实际上并无援军，你说这种欺骗是恶行吗？」学生说：「不，这是善行。」 [Taiwanese Mandarin, simp.]

     Sūgélādǐ hái zài qǐfā xuéshēng: “Nǐ shuō qīpiàn péngyǒu shì èxìng, kěshì zài zhànzhēng shí tǒngshuài wèi le gǔwǔ shìqì, huì jiǎchēng yuánjūn jiùyào dào le, shíjìshàng bìng wú yuánjūn, nǐ shuō zhè zhǒng qīpiàn shì èxìng ma?” Xuéshēng shuō: “Bù, zhè shì shànxìng.” [Pinyin]

     Socrates enlightened his students, "You said lying to a friend is an evil deed, but if a commander falsely claims in battle that reinforcements are on their way in order to boost morale even though there are no reinforcements in actuality, would you say this kind of lying is evil?" The students said, "No, this is a good deed."

4. Used with 就 (jiù) to indicate the first of two alternatives.

   他每天不是上班，就是去做義工，一點兒休息的時間都沒有。 [MSC, trad.]
   他每天不是上班，就是去做义工，一点儿休息的时间都没有。 [MSC, simp.]

   Tā měitiān búshì shàngbān, jiùshì qù zuò yìgōng, yīdiǎnr xiūxī de shíjiān dōu méiyǒu. [Pinyin]

   Every day, he either goes to work or volunteers, not leaving any time for rest.

5. (regional) Used to form polar questions, placed at the end of a question.

   你愛吃紅蘿蔔不？ [Guanzhong Mandarin, trad.]
   你爱吃红萝卜不？ [Guanzhong Mandarin, simp.]

   Nì ngāi chǐ hóngluóbu bu? [Guanzhong Pinyin]

   Do you like eating carrots?

6. (colloquial) Question particle placed at the end of the sentence.
7. (colloquial) Intensifying particle often used with 好 (hǎo).
8. ^† Meaningless particle used in poems and other texts.

   • 有周不顯、帝命不時。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     有周不显、帝命不时。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Yǒu zhōu bù xiǎn, dì mìng bù shí. [Pinyin]

     Illustrious was the House of Zhou, And the appointment of God came at the proper season.

• (not):