HSK 6 · Adjectives

微不足道 wēibùzúdào “insignificant” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 微不足道 means

  1. insignificant
  2. negligible
  3. (idiom) negligible

How to say 微不足道

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale微wēi1st tone, high and level
  • 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 second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale足zú2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale道dào4th tone, falling

微不足道 in a sentence

  1. 这点儿小事微不足道。

    Zhè diǎnr xiǎoshì wēibùzúdào.

    This little thing isn’t worth mentioning.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 我的帮助是微不足道的。

    Wǒ de bāngzhù shì wēibùzúdào de.

    My help was nothing really.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 微不足道 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 微 (wēi) with each of its parts in a different colour
微wēitiny
  • 彳step · chì
  • 山mountain · shān
  • 兀weak · wù
  • 攵tap form of 攴 · pū
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 足 (jù) drawn as one shape
足zúfoot; leg

足 is a single shape of 7 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidDrawn from a leg with a foot below: foot. You see it on the left of 跑 (pǎo) “run”, 跳 (tiào) “jump” and 踢 (tī) “kick”.

The character 道 (dào) with each of its parts in a different colour
道dàoroad; path 条,股)
  • 首head · shǒuSound part
  • 辶walking form of 辵 · chuòMeaning part

辶 hints at the meaning (walking); 首 (shǒu) hints at the sound. Compare it with dào.

Memory aidPicture walking 辶 with your head 首 leading the way: a road, a way.

How to write 微不足道

微 13 strokes · 不 4 strokes · 足 7 strokes · 道 12 strokes

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

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

Words related to 微不足道

Words with 微

稍微shāowēi · a little bit微笑wēixiào · smile微观wēiguān · microscopic无微不至wúwēibúzhì · in every possible way

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 足

足球zúqiú · football踢足球tīzúqiú · to play football (football)满足mǎnzú · to satisfy不足bùzú · insufficient立足lìzú · to gain a foothold充足chōngzú · sufficient十足shízú · complete足以zúyǐ · enough to举足轻重jǔzúqīngzhòng · to play a decisive role知足常乐zhīzúchánglè · contentment brings happiness

Words with 道

知道zhīdao · to know (a fact)街道jiēdào · street道dào · (m.w. for orders味道wèidao · flavour道歉dàoqiàn · to apologise难道nándào · don’t tell me …报道bàodào · to report (news)地道dìdao · authentic道德dàodé · virtue频道píndào · frequency

More words: Adjectives

外向wàixiàng · outgoing完备wánbèi · complete顽固wángù · stubborn顽强wánqiáng · tenacious威风wēifēng · impressive蔚蓝wèilán · azure温和wēnhé · mild文雅wényǎ · elegant

FAQs

微不足道 (wēibùzúdào) means “insignificant” or “negligible”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it wēibùzúdào: wēi with a 1st tone, then bù with a 4th tone, then zú with a 2nd tone, then dào with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 微不足道 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type weibuzudao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 微不足道 from the suggestions. Typing weibuzudao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
微不足道 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.