恨不得
hèn bu de · HSK 7
wishing one could do sth
😤⏳ 恨 hate + 不 not + 得 able = hating you cannot do it, so itching to act right now
恨 — heart radical 忄 + 艮 (gěn, phonetic)
恨 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The heart radical 忄 (the side form of 心) signals an emotion or feeling, while 艮 supplies the sound (related to 'gěn/hèn'). Together they convey a strong negative feeling held in the heart — resentment, hatred, or deep regret.
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'.
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.