不仅
bùjǐn · HSK 3
not only
不 = not + 仅 = only/merely; literally 'not only'
不 (bù) negates; 仅 (jǐn) means 'only/merely/just'. Together 不仅 = 'not only', used to set up an additive clause like 不仅...而且 ('not only... but also').
不 — single pictograph; bird flying upward
Originally a pictograph in oracle bone script, traditionally interpreted as a bird flying up toward the sky and unable to come down, suggesting negation or refusal. Over time it became the standard negation word in Chinese, used before verbs and adjectives to mean 'not'.
仅 — 亻 person + 又 hand (right side 仅 simplified from 僅)
仅 is the simplified form of 僅. The traditional 僅 combines the person radical 亻 with 堇 (clay/scant), which carried the phonetic value and a sense of scarcity. Over time it came to mean 'only' or 'merely', and the simplified 仅 replaces 堇 with the simpler 又 (hand).