不再
búzài · HSK 6
no more/longer
🚫 不 = not + 再 = again; literally 'not again' = no more
不 negates and 再 means 'again' or 'once more'. Together 不再 says an action will not happen again — 'no longer' or 'no more'. Common before verbs: 不再去 = no longer goes.
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'.
再 — top 一 + 冂 frame + 土-like inner strokes
再 originally depicted a stack of fish or piled objects, suggesting accumulation or repetition. Over time it came to mean 'again' or 'once more,' emphasizing a second occurrence of an action. The modern form is stylized and no longer clearly pictographic.