Dictionary › 不足

不足

bù zú

Old HSK 5 HSK 3.0 level 5 2-character word

不足 (bù zú) means "insufficient". It is an HSK 3.0 level 5 word, and was HSK 5 in the old six-level list.

What 不足 means

1. insufficient
2. lacking
3. deficiency
4. not enough
5. inadequate
6. not worth
7. cannot
8. should not

The characters in 不足

• 不bùno; not so; (bound form) not; un-
• 足zú(bound form) foot; leg; sufficient; ample; as much as; fully

Example sentences

• 我睡眠不足。
  I'm not getting enough sleep.
• 心有余而力不足。
  Xīnyǒuyú'érlìbùzú.
  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
• 他的主意不足挂齿。
  Tā de zhǔyi bùzúguàchǐ.
  His proposal is not worth talking about.
• 我们现在人手不足。
  We need more workers.
• 我最近一直睡眠不足。
  Wǒ zuì jìn yīzhí shuìmiánbùzú.
  I haven't been getting enough sleep lately.
• 光看表面是不足够的。
  All that glitters is not gold.

Words starting with 不足

• 不足为奇bù zú wéi qínot at all surprising (idiom)
• 不足月bù zú yuèpremature (birth, child)
• 不足道bù zú dàoinconsiderable; of no consequence; not worth mentioning
• 不足为道bù zú wéi dàoto be not worth mentioning
• 不足为训bù zú wéi xùnnot to be taken as an example; not an example to be followed…
• 不足为虑bù zú wéi lǜto give no cause for anxiety; nothing to worry about
• 不足为外人道bù zú wèi wài rén dào(idiom) no need to tell others; let's keep this between ourselves…

Words containing 不足

• 微不足道wēi bù zú dào(idiom) negligible; insignificant
• 美中不足měi zhōng bù zúeverything is fine except for one small defect (idiom); the fly in the ointment
• 先天不足xiān tiān bù zúto suffer from a congenital deficiency; to have an inherent weakness
• 学然后知不足xué rán hòu zhī bù zúto learn is to know one's ignorance (the Book of Rites 礼记

Sounds the same

Read bù zú, tone for tone, but written differently.

• 部族tribe; clan
• 步足ambulatory leg (of a crab, lobster, spider etc)

Where 不足 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of Essence, Fundamentals & Logic (HSK 5), each one a topic in the dependency graph of HSK 1–6 that opens only once its prerequisites are solid.

Go deeper

• Every HSK 5 word, with the rest of its level.
• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read bù zú correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.