HSK 6 · Emotions

不屑一顾 búxièyígù “to disdain” in Chinese

Traditional 不屑一顧

What 不屑一顾 means

  1. to disdain
  2. to consider beneath one’s notice
  3. to disdain as beneath contempt (idiom)

How to say 不屑一顾

  • 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屑xiè4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale一yí2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale顾gù4th 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

不屑一顾 in a sentence

  1. 他对我的提议不屑一顾。

    Tā duì wǒ de tíyì búxièyígù.

    He dismissed my proposal out of hand.

    Sentence #848828 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 伊戈尔非常不屑一顾。

    Yīgē'ěr fēicháng búxièyígù.

    Igor was very dismissive.

    Sentence #13526168 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

How 不屑一顾 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 不屑一顾

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 屑 (xiè) with each of its parts in a different colour
屑xièbits
  • 尸corpse · shīMeaning part
  • 肖to resemble · xiàoSound part

尸 hints at the meaning (corpse); 肖 (xiào) hints at the sound. Compare it with xiè.

The character 一 (yī) drawn as one shape
一yīoneyí in 不屑一顾

一 is a single shape of 1 stroke. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidOne stroke for one, the way people once counted with rods.

The character 顾 (gù) with each of its parts in a different colour
顾gùto look after
  • 厄adversity · èSound part
  • 页page · xiéMeaning part

页 hints at the meaning (page); 厄 (è) hints at the sound. Compare it with gù.

How to write 不屑一顾

不 4 strokes · 屑 10 strokes · 一 1 strokes · 顾 10 strokes

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

不屑一顾 (búxièyígù) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 不屑一顾 (búxièyígù). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 不屑一顾

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 屑

屑xiè · crumbs

Words with 一

一yī · one一半yībàn · half一些yīxiē · some一点儿yìdiǎnr · a little一起yìqǐ · together第一dìyī · first一下yíxià · (after a verb) briefly一般yìbān · general一定yídìng · surely一共yígòng · altogether

Words with 顾

照顾zhàogu · take care of顾客gùkè · customer回顾huígù · to look back顾虑gùlǜ · worry顾问gùwèn · adviser不顾búgù · regardless of后顾之忧hòugùzhīyōu · worries back home统筹兼顾tǒngchóujiāngù · to plan as a whole and consider all aspects

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

巴不得bābudé · to be eager to抱负bàofù · aspiration悲哀bēi'āi · sorrowful鄙视bǐshì · to despise诧异chàyì · astonished称心如意chènxīnrúyì · to be completely satisfied崇拜chóngbài · to worship冲动chōngdòng · impulse

FAQs

不屑一顾 (búxièyígù) means “to disdain” or “to consider beneath one’s notice”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it búxièyígù: bú with a 2nd tone, then xiè with a 4th tone, then yí with a 2nd tone, then gù 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.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 不屑一顾 is written 不屑一顧. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type buxieyigu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 不屑一顾 from the suggestions. Typing buxieyigu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
不屑一顾 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.