否 (fǒu): to negate, to deny, not
否 (fǒu) is a Chinese character meaning “to negate.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 不 (semantic) and 口 (phonetic). It ranks #620 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 否 no. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 叫 (jiào, to call, to be called), 右 (yòu, (bound form) right).
Definitions
- to negate
- to deny
- not
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 否 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 否
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 是否adverb | shì fǒu | whether (or not) | 4 |
| 否则conjunction | fǒu zé | otherwise | 4 |
| 能否adverb | néng fǒu | whether one can | 4 |
| 否认verb | fǒu rèn | to declare to be untrue | 5 |
| 否定verb/adjective | fǒu dìng | to negate | 5 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 与否particle | yǔ fǒu | whether or not (at the end of a phrase) |
| 否决verb | fǒu jué | to veto |
| 可否verb | kě fǒu | is it possible or not? |
| 矢口否认phrase | shǐ kǒu fǒu rèn | to deny flatly |
| 否决权noun | fǒu jué quán | veto power |
| 不置可否phrase | bù zhì kě fǒu | decline to comment |
| 会否 | huì fǒu | can or cannot |
| 真否定句 | zhēn fǒu dìng jù | true negative (TN) |
| 未置可否 | wèi zhì kě fǒu | to refuse to comment |
| 否定句 | fǒu dìng jù | negative sentence |
| 否决票 | fǒu jué piào | veto |
| 否极泰来phrase | pǐ jí tài lái | extreme sorrow turns to joy (idiom) |
| 陟罚臧否phrase | zhì fá zāng pǐ | (idiom) to evaluate the merits and demerits of |
否 appears in 18 compound words: 44 as the first character, 44 as the last, and 11 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 否 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (5)
extreme adversity marks the beginning of fortune; when worse comes to the worst, things will turn for the better
Example Sentences
你是否同意这个提议？请明确表态。
Nǐ shìfǒu tóngyì zhè gè tíyì? Qǐng míngquè biǎotài.
Do you agree with this proposal? Please make your position clear.
日媒民调:选民投票最重视候选人“是否支持高市”
rì méi mín diào : xuǎn mín tóu piào zuì chóng shì hòu xuǎn rén shì fǒu zhī chí gāo shì
Japanese media poll: Voters vote the most important thing about candidates "whether to support Gao City"
日媒民调:选民最重视候选人是否支持高市
rì méi mín diào : xuǎn mín zuì chóng shì hòu xuǎn rén shì fǒu zhī chí gāo shì
Japanese media poll: Voters pay the most attention to whether the candidate supports Gao Shi
黄榕外貌有变否认做医美疗程 开心被网民指跟阿仪越来越似...
huáng 榕 wài mào yǒu biàn fǒu rèn zuò yī měi liáo chéng kāi xīn bèi wǎng mín zhǐ gēn ā yí yuè lái yuè sì . . .
Huang Rong's appearance has changed, denying medical aesthetic treatment, and being happily accused by netizens of becoming more and more similar to Ah Yi...
...识局”6 | 不想当“跛脚鸭”,特朗普能否守..
. . . shí jú 6 bù xiǎng dāng 跛 jiǎo yā , tè lǎng pǔ néng fǒu shǒu . .
... Know the Bureau" 6 | If you don't want to be a "lame duck", can Trump keep it?
西媒:“抛售日本”会否演变为“抛售美国”?
xī méi pāo shòu rì běn huì fǒu yǎn biàn wéi pāo shòu měi guó ?
Western media: "sell Japan" will evolve into "sell the United States"?
为了救许多人牺牲一个人是否道德？
Wèile jiù xǔduō rén xīshēng yīgèrén shìfǒu dàodé?
Would it be ethical to sacrifice one person to save many?
汤姆想知道玛丽是否有男朋友？
Tāngmǔ xiǎng zhīdào Mǎlì shìfǒu yǒu nánpéngyou?
Tom wanted to know if Mary had a boyfriend.
可否劳驾你帮我个忙？
Kěfǒu láojià nǐ bāng wǒ gè máng?
Could you please do me a favor?
你是否身患需服药的疾病？
Nǐ shìfǒu shēn huàn xū fúyào de jíbìng?
Do you suffer from diseases that require medication?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 否 (fǒu) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 否 and 扣?
How many strokes does 否 have?
What is the radical of 否?
What are the components of 否?
What are common words containing 否?
Is 否 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 否 with real-time feedback
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