HSK 6 · Function Words

不堪 bùkān “unbearable” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 不堪 means

  1. unbearable
  2. can’t stand
  3. utterly
  4. cannot bear
  5. cannot stand
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • extremely

How to say 不堪

  • 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 first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale堪kān1st tone, high and level

不堪 in a sentence

  1. 我们还是脆弱不堪。

    Wǒmen háishi cuìruò bùkān.

    We’re still extremely vulnerable.

    Sentence #5613651 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 她的衣服破旧不堪。

    Tā de yīfu pòjiù bùkān.

    Her clothes are terribly worn out.

    Sentence #10230468 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 不堪 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 堪 (kān) with each of its parts in a different colour
堪kānmay; can
  • 土earth · tǔ
  • 甚considerably · shèn

How to write 不堪

不 4 strokes · 堪 12 strokes

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

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

Words related to 不堪

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 堪

难堪nánkān · embarrassed

More words: Function Words & Grammar

不得已bùdéyǐ · to have no choice不妨bùfáng · might as well不顾búgù · regardless of不禁bùjīn · can’t help (doing)不愧búkuì · to be worthy of不料búliào · unexpectedly不免bùmiǎn · inevitably不惜bùxī · not to hesitate (to)

FAQs

不堪 (bùkān) means “unbearable” or “can’t stand”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it bùkān: bù with a 4th tone, then kān with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 不堪 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type bukan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 不堪 from the suggestions. Typing bukan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
不堪 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.