Dictionary › 借口

借口

jiè kǒu

Old HSK 5 HSK 3.0 level 7-9 2-character word

借口 (jiè kǒu) means "to use as an excuse; excuse; pretext". It is an HSK 3.0 level 7-9 word, and was HSK 5 in the old six-level list.

What 借口 means

1. to use as an excuse
2. excuse; pretext

The characters in 借口

• 借jièto borrow; (used in combination with 给; to make use of; to avail oneself of
• 口kǒumouth; classifier for things with mouths (people, domestic animals, cannons, wells etc)…

Example sentences

• 我没有借口。
  I have no excuse.
• 借口是没用的。
  There is no use in making excuses.
• 为晚归找个借口。
  To make an excuse for having stayed out late.
• 我没有任何借口。
  I don't have an excuse.
• 他编造了一个借口。
  Tā biānzào le yī gè jièkǒu.
  He thought up an excuse.
• 这只不过是个借口。
  That's just an excuse.

Words containing 借口

• 找借口zhǎo jiè kǒuto look for a pretext

Sounds the same

Read jiè kǒu, tone for tone, but written differently.

• 藉口to use as an excuse; on the pretext; excuse

Where 借口 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of Responsibility, Response & Control (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 jiè kǒu correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.