HSK 6 · Adjectives

不可思议 bùkěsīyì “unimaginable” in Chinese

Traditional 不可思議

What 不可思议 means

  1. unimaginable
  2. inconceivable
  3. (idiom) inconceivable
  4. unfathomable

How to say 不可思议

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale不bù4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale可kě3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale思sī1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale议yì4th tone, falling

不可思议 in a sentence

  1. 你真是不可思议。

    Nǐ zhēn shì bùkěsīyì.

    You’re incredible.

    Sentence #1408009 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 不可思议 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 不 (bù) drawn as one shape
不bùno; not so

不 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidPicture a bar 一 across the top that nothing below can get past: not, no.

The character 可 (kě) with each of its parts in a different colour
可kěcan; may; able to; -able
  • 丁part of the characterMeaning part
  • 口mouth · kǒuSound part

Memory aidPicture a mouth 口 saying yes: can, may.

The character 思 (sī) with each of its parts in a different colour
思sīto think
  • 田field · tián
  • 心heart · xīn

Memory aidA head 田 (once a drawing of the skull) above the heart 心: to think.

The character 议 (yì) with each of its parts in a different colour
议yìto comment on
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 义right conduct · yìSound part

讠 hints at the meaning (speech); 义 (yì) hints at the sound. Compare it with yì.

How to write 不可思议

不 4 strokes · 可 5 strokes · 思 9 strokes · 议 5 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

不可思议 (bùkěsīyì) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 不可思议 (bùkěsīyì). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 不可思议

Words with 不

不bù · no不要bùyào · don’t!不客气bú kèqi · you’re welcome对不起duìbuqǐ · sorry不错bùcuò · not bad不好意思bùhǎoyìsi · to feel embarrassed不但búdàn · not only不同bùtóng · different不少bùshǎo · quite a few不见bújiàn · to be missing

Words with 可

可以kěyǐ · can可能kěnéng · maybe可kě · but可爱kě'ài · cute可怜kělián · pitiful可惜kěxī · it is a pity可是kěshì · but可靠kěkào · reliable可怕kěpà · awful可见kějiàn · it can clearly be seen (that this is the case)

Words with 思

意思yìsi · meaning没意思méiyìsi · boring有意思yǒuyìsi · interesting不好意思bùhǎoyìsi · to feel embarrassed思考sīkǎo · to reflect on思想sīxiǎng · thought沉思chénsī · to ponder反思fǎnsī · to reflect on构思gòusī · to conceive (an idea or plot)思索sīsuǒ · to ponder

Words with 议

会议huìyì · meeting建议jiànyì · to propose议论yìlùn · to comment倡议chàngyì · to propose提议tíyì · to propose协议xiéyì · agreement抗议kàngyì · to protest争议zhēngyì · dispute

More words: Adjectives

别致biézhì · unique闭塞bìsè · isolated博大精深bódàjīngshēn · broad and profound (of knowledge or culture)薄弱bóruò · weak不像话búxiànghuà · unreasonable不相上下bùxiāngshàngxià · equally matched苍白cāngbái · pale仓促cāngcù · hurried

FAQs

不可思议 (bùkěsīyì) means “unimaginable” or “inconceivable”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it bùkěsīyì: bù with a 4th tone, then kě with a 3rd tone, then sī with a 1st tone, then yì with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 不可思议 is written 不可思議. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type bukesiyi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 不可思议 from the suggestions. Typing bukesiyi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
不可思议 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.