不定
búdìng · HSK 7
uncertain
🤷 不 (not) + 定 (fixed) = not fixed, uncertain
If something is not fixed or settled, it remains up in the air. búdìng sounds a bit like 'pudding' — and pudding wobbles, never staying still or definite.
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'.
定 — roof 宀 + 正 (correct/upright, phonetic)
Originally written with 宀 (roof) over 正 (upright/correct), suggesting a household settled and orderly under its roof. Over time 正 simplified to 㐬-like form at the bottom, and the meaning shifted from 'settled home' to the broader senses of 'fix, stable, decide.'