HSK 6 · Ideas

不择手段 bùzéshǒuduàn “by any means necessary” in Chinese

Traditional 不擇手段

What 不择手段 means

  1. by any means necessary
  2. unscrupulous
  3. by fair means or foul
  4. by hook or by crook
  5. unscrupulously

How to say 不择手段

  • 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择zé2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale手shǒu3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale段duàn4th tone, falling

不择手段 in a sentence

  1. 为了正当目的可以不择手段。

    Wèile zhèngdàng mùdì kěyǐ bùzéshǒuduàn.

    The end justifies the means.

    Sentence #806215 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 不择手段 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 择 (zé) drawn as one shape
择zéto select

择 is a single shape of 8 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 手 (shǒu) drawn as one shape
手shǒuhand

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

Memory aidDrawn from a hand with its fingers spread. On the left of a character it is written 扌.

The character 段 (duàn) drawn as one shape
段duànparagraph

段 is a single shape of 9 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 不择手段

不 4 strokes · 择 8 strokes · 手 4 strokes · 段 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 不择手段

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 择

选择xuǎnzé · select

Words with 手

手shǒu · hand手表shǒubiǎo · watch手机shǒujī · mobile phone洗手间xǐshǒujiān · toilet分手fēnshǒu · to break up手术shǒushù · (surgical) operation手指shǒuzhǐ · finger手套shǒutào · glove对手duìshǒu · opponent握手wòshǒu · to shake hands

Words with 段

段duàn · paragraph阶段jiēduàn · stage

More words: Ideas & Concepts

比重bǐzhòng · proportion步伐bùfá · pace布局bùjú · layout不言而喻bùyán'éryù · self-evident策略cèlüè · strategy侧面cèmiàn · side层出不穷céngchūbùqióng · to emerge one after another层次céngcì · level

FAQs

不择手段 (bùzéshǒuduàn) means “by any means necessary” or “unscrupulous”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it bùzéshǒuduàn: bù with a 4th tone, then zé with a 2nd tone, then shǒu with a 3rd tone, then duàn 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, 不择手段 is written 不擇手段. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type buzeshouduan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 不择手段 from the suggestions. Typing buzeshouduan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
不择手段 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.