不得已 bùdéyǐ▶ không còn cách nào khác ngoài

Stroke order

不得已 is written in 18 strokes across 3 characters.

• 不 — 4 strokes
• 得 — 11 strokes
• 已 — 3 strokes

Senses

1. to act against one's will
2. to have no alternative but to
3. to have to
4. to have no choice
5. must

Related words

• 不免không thể tránh khỏi
• 不堪không thể chịu đựng
• 不妨thà rằng; cũng nên
• 不惜không tiếc; không ngần ngại
• 不愧xứng đáng
• 不料Bất ngờ, không ngờ

不得已 is pronounced bùdéyǐ and means “không còn cách nào khác ngoài”. You will meet it in HSK 6, a band of the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi — the standard test of Chinese proficiency. Most learners can pick 不得已 out of a list long before they can reach for it unprompted, and the gap between those two closes only with repeated recall. LexiTrail schedules the next sighting from how well you did on the last.