Chinese word dictionary

匮乏

kuì fá · to be deficient in sth; to be short of sth (supplies, money etc)

Practice word

Word information

Simplified匮乏

Traditional匱乏

Pinyinkuì fá

Part of speechDictionary

HSK 3.0Not listed

HSK 2.0Not listed

Character breakdown

Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.

匮kuì

to lack; lacking, deficient; exhausted; empty

乏fá

poor; short, lacking; tired

How to learn 匮乏

Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.

When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.

Related vocabulary

Words with the same characters

Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.

缺乏quēfá

to lack; to be short of

不乏bùfá

there is no lack of

乏力fálì

lacking in strength; weak; feeble; not up to the task

贫乏pínfá

impoverished; lacking; deficient; limited; meager; impoverishment; lack; deficiency