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无能为力

wú néng wéi lì

Old HSK 6 HSK 3.0 level 7-9 4-character word Traditional 無能為力

无能为力 (wú néng wéi lì) means "impotent (idiom); powerless; helpless". It is an HSK 3.0 level 7-9 word, and was HSK 6 in the old six-level list.

What 无能为力 means

1. idiompowerless to do anything about it

The characters in 无能为力

• 无wúnot to have; no; none
• 能néngcan; to be able to; might possibly
• 为wéias (in the capacity of); to take sth as; to act as
• 力lìpower; force; strength

Example sentences

• 我对此无能为力。
  Wǒ duì cǐ wúnéngwéilì.
  There's nothing I can do about it.
• 我们也无能为力。
  There's nothing we can do to help.

Where 无能为力 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of HSK 6 Vocabulary · wù–wǔ (HSK 6), each one a topic in the dependency graph of HSK 1–6 that opens only once its prerequisites are solid.

Go deeper

• Every HSK 6 word, with the rest of its level.
• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read wú néng wéi lì correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.