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身不由己

shēn bù yóu jǐ

HSK 3.0 level 7-9 4-character word

身不由己 (shēn bù yóu jǐ) means "without the freedom to act independently (idiom); involuntary; not of one's own volition; in spite of oneself". It is an HSK 3.0 level 7-9 word, and was not on the old six-level HSK list.

What 身不由己 means

1. idiom(of one's circumstances) beyond one's control; unable to do anything about it; (of one's actions) not subject to conscious control (i.e. done in spite of oneself)

The characters in 身不由己

• 身shēnbody; life; oneself
• 不bùno; not so; (bound form) not; un-
• 由yóuto follow; from; because of; due to
• 己jǐself; oneself; sixth of the ten Heavenly Stems 十天干

Words containing 身不由己

• 人在江湖，身不由己rén zài jiāng hú , shēn bù yóu jǐ(proverb) you can't always do as you like; one has to compromise in this world

Go deeper

• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read shēn bù yóu jǐ correctly.
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