All words › HSK 4

看不起

kàn bu qǐ

HSK 4 · word 2609 of 3,000

Meaning

• to look down upon
• to despise

Example sentence

Characters in 看不起

• 看 kàn to see; to look at
• 不 bù no; not so
• 起 qǐ to rise

看 to look plus 不起, the negative potential. Unable to look up to, hence to despise; 看得起 is its positive twin.

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