HSK 6 · Adjectives

锲而不舍 qiè'érbùshě “to persevere” in Chinese

Traditional 鍥而不捨

What 锲而不舍 means

  1. to persevere
  2. to keep at it
  3. to chip away at a task and not abandon it (idiom)
  4. to chisel away at sth
  5. unflagging efforts

How to say 锲而不舍

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale锲qiè4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale而ér2nd 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 third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale舍shě3rd tone, dipping

锲而不舍 in a sentence

  1. 学习语言要有锲而不舍的精神。

    Xuéxí yǔyán yào yǒu qiè'érbùshě de jīngshén.

    Learning a language takes perseverance.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 他锲而不舍，终于成功了。

    Tā qiè'érbùshě, zhōngyú chénggōng le.

    He kept at it and finally succeeded.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 锲而不舍 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 锲 (qiè) with each of its parts in a different colour
锲qièto cut
  • 钅gold form of 金 · jīn
  • 契deed · qì
The character 而 (ér) drawn as one shape
而érand

而 is a single shape of 6 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidDrawn from a beard. Today it links ideas: and, but.

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 舍 (shè) with each of its parts in a different colour
舍shěto give up; to abandon
  • 人person · rénMeaning part
  • 舌tongue · shéSound part

人 hints at the meaning (person); 舌 (shé) hints at the sound. Compare it with shě.

How to write 锲而不舍

锲 14 strokes · 而 6 strokes · 不 4 strokes · 舍 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 锲而不舍

Words with 而

而且érqiě · moreover而ér · and然而rán'ér · however从而cóng'ér · thus反而fǎn'ér · on the contrary因而yīn'ér · therefore时而shí'ér · sometimes而已éryǐ · that’s all进而jìn'ér · and then侃侃而谈kǎnkǎn'értán · to speak with ease and confidence

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 舍

宿舍sùshè · dormitory舍不得shěbude · to hate to part with

More words: Adjectives

朴素pǔsù · plain恰当qiàdàng · appropriate恰到好处qiàdàohǎochù · just right谦逊qiānxùn · modest切实qièshí · practical奇妙qímiào · wonderful清澈qīngchè · clear清洁qīngjié · clean

FAQs

锲而不舍 (qiè’érbùshě) means “to persevere” or “to keep at it”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it qiè’érbùshě: qiè with a 4th tone, then ér with a 2nd tone, then bù with a 4th tone, then shě with a 3rd 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, 锲而不舍 is written 鍥而不捨. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type qieerbushe with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 锲而不舍 from the suggestions. Typing qieerbushe into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
锲而不舍 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.