HSK 6 · Function Words

不愧 búkuì “to be worthy of” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 不愧 means

  1. to be worthy of
  2. to deserve to be called
  3. to prove oneself to be

How to say 不愧

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale不bú2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale愧kuì4th tone, falling

Tone change. 不 is bù on its own. Before a fourth tone it changes to bú, and textbooks write that change in, as here. How tone changes work

不愧 in a sentence

  1. 他不愧是我们班最好的学生。

    Tā búkuì shì wǒmen bān zuìhǎo de xuésheng.

    He really is the best student in our class.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 这家饭馆不愧是老字号，菜做得真好。

    Zhè jiā fànguǎn búkuì shì lǎozìhào, cài zuò de zhēn hǎo.

    This restaurant lives up to its long-standing name; the food is excellent.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 不愧 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 sobú in 不愧

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 愧 (kuì) with each of its parts in a different colour
愧kuìashamed
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīnMeaning part
  • 鬼ghost · guǐSound part

忄 hints at the meaning (heart); 鬼 (guǐ) hints at the sound. Compare it with kuì.

How to write 不愧

不 4 strokes · 愧 12 strokes

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

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

Words related to 不愧

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 愧

惭愧cánkuì · ashamed

More words: Function Words & Grammar

不妨bùfáng · might as well不顾búgù · regardless of不禁bùjīn · can’t help (doing)不堪bùkān · unbearable不料búliào · unexpectedly不免bùmiǎn · inevitably不惜bùxī · not to hesitate (to)不由得bùyóude · can’t help (doing)

FAQs

不愧 (búkuì) means “to be worthy of” or “to deserve to be called”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it búkuì: bú with a 2nd tone, then kuì with a 4th tone. 不 is bù on its own. Before a fourth tone it changes to bú, and textbooks write that change in, as here. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 不愧 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type bukui with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 不愧 from the suggestions. Typing bukui into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
不愧 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.