不好意思

Chinese

Chinese phrasebook

This entry is part of the phrasebook project, which presents criteria for inclusion based on utility, simplicity and commonness.

		not; no	to feel no shame; to have the nerve
trad. (不好意思)		不	好意思
simp. #(不好意思)		不	好意思

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): bùhǎoyìsi

  (Zhuyin): ㄅㄨˋ ㄏㄠˇ ㄧˋ ˙ㄙ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): bat¹ hou² ji³ si¹, bat¹ hou² ji³ si³

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: bùhǎoyìsi
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄨˋ ㄏㄠˇ ㄧˋ ˙ㄙ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: bùhǎoyìsi̊h
    • Wade–Giles: pu⁴-hao³-i⁴-ssŭ⁵
    • Yale: bù-hǎu-yì-sz
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: buhaoyih.sy
    • Palladius: бухаоисы (buxaoisy)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pu⁵¹ xɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ i⁵¹ sz̩¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: bat¹ hou² ji³ si¹, bat¹ hou² ji³ si³
    • Yale: bāt hóu yi sī, bāt hóu yi si
    • Cantonese Pinyin: bat⁷ hou² ji³ si¹, bat⁷ hou² ji³ si³
    • Guangdong Romanization: bed¹ hou² yi³ xi¹, bed¹ hou² yi³ xi³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pɐt̚⁵ hou̯³⁵ jiː³³ siː⁵⁵/, /pɐt̚⁵ hou̯³⁵ jiː³³ siː³³/

Adjective

不好意思

1. too embarrassed or shy to do something

   他們不好意思走進來。 [MSC, trad.]
   他们不好意思走进来。 [MSC, simp.]

   Tāmen bùhǎoyìsi zǒu jìn lái. [Pinyin]

   They're too embarrassed to come in.

Synonyms

• (polite) 不安 (bù'ān)

Antonyms

• 好意思 (hǎoyìsi)

Interjection

不好意思

1. sorry; excuse me

   真不好意思，讓你破費了。 [MSC, trad.]
   真不好意思，让你破费了。 [MSC, simp.]

   Zhēn bùhǎoyìsi, ràng nǐ pòfèi le. [Pinyin]

   I'm so sorry for putting you to the expense.

   不好意思，我現在手上有事在做，一會兒打給你好嗎？ [MSC, trad.]
   不好意思，我现在手上有事在做，一会儿打给你好吗？ [MSC, simp.]

   Bùhǎoyìsi, wǒ xiànzài shǒu shang yǒu shì zài zuò, yīhuìr dǎ gěi nǐ hǎo ma? [Pinyin]

   Sorry, I'm in the middle of something, can I call you back later?

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 不好意思 (“excuse me”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		不好意思
Mandarin	Beijing	不好意思
	Taiwan	不好意思
	Singapore	不好意思
Cantonese	Guangzhou	唔好意思
	Hong Kong	唔好意思
	Taishan	唔好意思
	Singapore (Guangfu)	唔好意思
Hakka	Meixian	唔好意思
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	敗勢
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	壞勢
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	敗勢
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	敗勢, 歪勢
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	敗勢
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	歹勢
	Kuching (Hepo)	唔好意思
	Singapore (Dabu)	敗勢
Southern Min	Xiamen	歹勢
	Quanzhou	歹勢
	Shishi	歹勢
	Zhangzhou	䆀勢
	Taipei	歹勢
	New Taipei (Sanxia)	歹勢
	Kaohsiung	歹勢
	Yilan	歹勢
	Changhua (Lukang)	歹勢
	Taichung	歹勢
	Taichung (Wuqi)	歹勢
	Tainan	歹勢
	Taitung	歹勢
	Hsinchu	歹勢
	Kinmen	歹勢
	Penghu (Magong)	歹勢
	Penang (Hokkien)	歹勢, 無好意思
	Singapore (Hokkien)	歹勢
	Manila (Hokkien)	歹勢
	Chaozhou	孬意思
	Shantou	孬意思
	Jieyang	孬意思
	Singapore (Teochew)	孬意思, 歹勢
Wu	Shanghai	勿好意思
	Hangzhou	不好意思

Dialectal synonyms of 對不起 (“sorry”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		對不起
Mandarin	Beijing	對不起
	Taiwan	對不起
	Malaysia	對不起
	Singapore	對不起
Cantonese	Guangzhou	對唔住
	Hong Kong	對唔住, sorry, sor informal
	Taishan	對唔住
	Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)	對唔住
	Singapore (Guangfu)	對唔住
Hakka	Meixian	對唔住
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	失禮, 敗勢, 斯里麻生
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	失禮, 壞勢, 斯里麻生
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	失禮, 敗勢, 斯里麻生
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	失禮, 敗勢, 歪勢, 斯里麻生
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	失禮, 敗勢, 斯里麻生
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	失禮, 歹勢, 斯里麻生
	Singapore (Dabu)	敗勢
Jin	Taiyuan	對不起
Eastern Min	Matsu	對不住
Southern Min	Xiamen	歹勢, 對不住, 失禮
	Quanzhou	歹勢, 對不住
	Zhangzhou	䆀勢, 對不住
	Taipei	失禮, 歹勢
	New Taipei (Sanxia)	失禮
	Kaohsiung	失禮, 歹勢
	Yilan	失禮
	Changhua (Lukang)	失禮, 歹勢
	Taichung	失禮
	Taichung (Wuqi)	失禮
	Tainan	失禮, 歹勢
	Taitung	歹勢
	Hsinchu	失禮
	Kinmen	失禮
	Penghu (Magong)	失禮
	Penang (Hokkien)	歹勢, sorry
	Singapore (Hokkien)	歹勢, 對毋住, sorry
	Manila (Hokkien)	歹勢, 對不住
	Chaozhou	對唔住
	Shantou	對唔住
	Singapore (Teochew)	對唔住, 歹勢
Wu	Shanghai	勿好意思, 對勿起
	Suzhou	對弗起
	Haining (Xiashi)	對勿住
	Ningbo	交代勿過, 勿好意思
Xiang	Changsha	對不住