What 不得已 means
- No choice but to
These meanings come from the same dictionary that powers the Chinese to Pinyin translator and the Chinese to English translator, so a whole sentence containing 不得已 will read it the same way this page does.
Character by character
How to write 不得已
Stroke order is not decoration — it is what makes handwriting legible and what dictionary lookup by stroke count depends on.
Practise 不得已 on printable 田字格 sheets, trace it in the writing practice tool, or watch any other character in the Stroke Order Animator.
Questions about 不得已
What does 不得已 mean in English?
不得已 is pronounced bùdéyǐ and means No choice but to.
How do you pronounce 不得已?
不得已 is bùdéyǐ in pinyin — written budeyi without tone marks. Press the audio button on this page to hear it spoken by a native voice.
What are the characters in 不得已?
不得已 is written with 3 characters: 不 (bù) No (not), 得 (dé / děi / de) Get; Have to (need), 已 (yǐ) Already (to stop - ended). Knowing the parts is usually how the whole word becomes memorable.
Is 不得已 an HSK word?
Yes — 不得已 is on the official HSK 6 vocabulary list. You can study it with the rest of that list on the HSK 6 page.
Studied around the same time
Keep going
Translate a whole sentence containing 不得已 with the Chinese to Pinyin translator, study it alongside the rest of HSK 6, drill it with HSK flashcards, or save it above and review it on your review deck.
Browse the dictionary
Every word on this site links to its entry — tap any word in a graded reader, a translation result or an HSK list to land on a page like this one.
Dictionary index