身不由己
shēnbùyóujǐ · (idiom) (of one's circumstances) beyond one's control; unable to do anything about it; (of one's actions) not subject to conscious control (i.e. done in spite of oneself)
Character breakdown
Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.
How to learn 身不由己
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.
Words with the same characters
Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.
no; not so; (bound form) not; un-
不客气búkèqiyou're welcome; don't mention it; impolite; rude; blunt
不要búyàodon't!; must not
对不起duìbuqǐI'm sorry; excuse me; I beg your pardon; to let (sb) down; to disappoint
不错búcuòcorrect; right; not bad; pretty good
不好意思bùhǎoyìsito feel embarrassed; to find it embarrassing; to be sorry (for inconveniencing sb)