不思議
ふしぎ · fushigi · JLPT N3 · na-adj
mystery
🔮 不思議 = not + think + discuss: something beyond thinking and talking
Comes from the Buddhist term 不可思議, meaning something that cannot be thought about or put into words. 不 = not, 思 = think, 議 = discuss. A mystery is what your reasoning and your words can't reach.
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'.