不堪
bùkān · HSK 7
can't bear/stand
😫 bù (not) + kān (endure) = cannot endure, unbearable
堪 means to endure or withstand. Adding 不 negates it: what you cannot bear. Used for situations so overwhelming they exceed your tolerance — 不堪重负 means unable to bear the heavy load.
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'.