HSK 6 · Ideas

得不偿失 débùchángshī “not worth it” in Chinese

Traditional 得不償失

What 得不偿失 means

  1. not worth it
  2. the losses outweigh the gains
  3. the gains do not make up for the losses (idiom)

How to say 得不偿失

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale得dé2nd tone, rising
  • 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偿cháng2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale失shī1st tone, high and level

得不偿失 in a sentence

  1. 为了省一点钱把身体累坏了，得不偿失。

    Wèile shěng yìdiǎn qián bǎ shēntǐ lèihuài le, débùchángshī.

    Wearing yourself out to save a little money isn’t worth it.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 熬夜学习第二天上课睡觉，真是得不偿失。

    Áoyè xuéxí dì'èr tiān shàngkè shuìjiào, zhēn shì débùchángshī.

    Staying up all night studying and then sleeping through class the next day does more harm than good.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 得不偿失 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 得 (de) with each of its parts in a different colour
得déto obtain
  • 彳step · chì
  • 旦dawn · dàn
  • 寸inch · cùn

Memory aidA hand 寸 picking up a shell, once used as money, while out on the road 彳: to get.

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 偿 (cháng) with each of its parts in a different colour
偿chángto repay
  • 亻person form of 人 · rénMeaning part
  • 尝to taste · chángSound part

亻 hints at the meaning (person); 尝 (cháng) hints at the sound. Compare it with cháng.

The character 失 (shī) with each of its parts in a different colour
失shīto lose
  • 丿slash · piě
  • 夫man · fū

How to write 得不偿失

得 11 strokes · 不 4 strokes · 偿 11 strokes · 失 5 strokes

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

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

Words related to 得不偿失

Words with 得

得de · particle linking a verb to how it is done (e.g. 跑得快觉得juéde · to feel记得jìde · remember得到dédào · to get得分défēn · to score (points)懂得dǒngde · to understand认得rènde · to recognise获得huòdé · to obtain得意déyì · proud of oneself值得zhíde · to be worth

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 偿

赔偿péicháng · to compensate补偿bǔcháng · to compensate偿还chánghuán · to repay无偿wúcháng · free of charge

Words with 失

失败shībài · to fail失望shīwàng · disappointed失眠shīmián · to suffer from insomnia失去shīqù · to lose消失xiāoshī · to disappear失业shīyè · unemployment损失sǔnshī · loss丧失sàngshī · to lose遗失yíshī · to lose (something)失踪shīzōng · to go missing

More words: Ideas & Concepts

档次dàngcì · grade当务之急dāngwùzhījí · top priority导向dǎoxiàng · orientation大意dàyì · general idea等级děngjí · grade地步dìbù · extent定义dìngyì · definition递增dìzēng · to increase steadily

FAQs

得不偿失 (débùchángshī) means “not worth it” or “the losses outweigh the gains”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it débùchángshī: dé with a 2nd tone, then bù with a 4th tone, then cháng with a 2nd tone, then shī with a 1st 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, 得不偿失 is written 得不償失. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type debuchangshi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 得不偿失 from the suggestions. Typing debuchangshi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
得不偿失 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.