不

The exact origin of 不 is uncertain. The earliest oracle bone forms show a shape with three prongs pointing downward, sometimes with a horizontal stroke (一) on top.

Shuowen Jiezi (説文解字 shuōwén jiězì): describes it as a bird flying upward and not descending — interpreted as “not returning,” hence “not.”

Other theories:

• flower calyx (柎의 본자);

• plant root representation.

Over time, the meaning “not” became dominant.

It is one of the most basic and frequently used negation characters in Classical and Modern Chinese, as well as in Korean and Japanese.

不 is part of a family of negative characters with slightly different nuances:

無 – “not, none, does not exist” (absolute absence, like no / none);

未 – “not yet” (temporal negation, e.g. 未來 “future” = not yet come);

弗 – originally “not,” but rarely used now except in words like 弗 (dollar) or 불소 (fluoride);

非 – “wrong / not in accordance with” (denial of category or quality; implies wrongness);

否 – “to refuse, to reject” (used when actively saying “no” or recording rejection, e.g. 가/부 표 in voting).