LearnMandarin

All wordsHSK 2 · Feelings

不好意思

hǎo si

HSK 2 · word 533 of 3,000

Meaning

Example sentence

不好意思……

bù hǎo yì si

I'm sorry.

Characters in 不好意思

意思 is meaning or inclination, so 不好意思 is literally being in an awkward frame of mind. It works both as embarrassed and as a soft apology, milder than 对不起.

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