不禁
bùjīn · HSK 6
can't help (doing sth.)
🚫 不 (not) + 禁 (restrain) = can't hold back
不 means 'not' and 禁 means 'to restrain or prohibit'. Together 不禁 literally says 'cannot restrain', i.e. can't help doing something. Same 禁 appears in 禁止 (forbid) and 禁令 (ban).
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'.