HSK 3.0 Level 2 · Adjectives

没意思 méiyìsi “boring” in Chinese

Traditional 沒意思

What 没意思 means

  1. boring
  2. of no interest

How to say 没意思

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale没méi2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale意yì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own思sineutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

没意思 in a sentence

  1. 我刚才瞧了一眼，一点没意思。

    Wǒ gāngcái qiáo le yì yǎn, yìdiǎn méiyìsi.

    I just had a quick look – it wasn’t interesting at all.

    Sentence #1260507 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我大学里的第一天相当没意思。

    Wǒ dàxué lǐ de dìyī tiān xiāngdāng méiyìsi.

    My first day at university was pretty boring.

    Sentence #4764533 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 你们这帮人真没意思。

    Nǐmen zhè bāng rén zhēn méiyìsi.

    You lot are really no fun.

    Sentence #5945141 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 没意思 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 没 (méi) with each of its parts in a different colour
没méihave not; not
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 殳weapon · shūSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 殳 (shū) hints at the sound. Compare it with méi.

Memory aidWater 氵 gives the meaning: it first meant “to sink under water”. Now it is mostly “not have”.

The character 意 (yì) with each of its parts in a different colour
意yìidea; thought; meaning; sense
  • 音sound · yīnSound part
  • 心heart · xīnMeaning part

心 hints at the meaning (heart); 音 (yīn) hints at the sound. Compare it with yì.

Memory aidA sound 音 from the heart 心: a thought, a meaning.

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

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

How to write 没意思

没 7 strokes · 意 13 strokes · 思 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 没意思

Words with 没

没méi · no没有méiyǒu · not to have没事méishì · it’s nothing没关系méi guānxi · it’s okay埋没máimò · to bury淹没yānmò · to submerge

Words with 意

意思yìsi · meaning有意思yǒuyìsi · interesting不好意思bùhǎoyìsi · to feel embarrassed同意tóngyì · agree愿意yuànyì · be willing注意zhùyì · pay attention to满意mǎnyì · satisfied意见yìjiàn · idea得意déyì · proud of oneself生意shēngyi · business

Words with 思

意思yìsi · meaning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思念sīniàn · to miss

More words: Adjectives

不错bùcuò · not bad黑色hēisè · black红色hóngsè · red (colour)绿色lǜsè · green有意思yǒuyìsi · interesting矮ǎi · short安静ānjìng · quiet差chà · differ from

FAQs

没意思 (méiyìsi) means “boring” or “of no interest”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word.
Say it méiyìsi: méi with a 2nd tone, then yì with a 4th tone, then si with a neutral 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, 没意思 is written 沒意思. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type meiyisi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 没意思 from the suggestions. Typing meiyisi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
没意思 is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 2 word list. It is not on the older 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.