得不偿失
dé bù cháng shī · HSK 7
the gains do not make up for the losses (idiom)
📉💸 gain + not + repay + lose = the payoff never covers what you lost
Each character spells it out: 得 gain, 不 not, 偿 repay, 失 lose. A deal where what you got back never offsets what it cost you — a raw deal.
得 — 彳 (step) + 旦 (sun/day) + 寸 (hand)
Originally depicted a hand 寸 reaching for a cowrie shell 貝 (later simplified to 旦), with 彳 'step' added to show going out and obtaining something. The core meaning is 'to get' or 'obtain'. The reading děi extends this to 'must/have to' — what one is obliged to get done.
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'.