Chinese word

不料

Pronunciation

Pinyinbù liào

Meaning

  • adverbunexpectedly

Example

我以为安全，不料出了问题。wǒ yǐ wéi ān quán bú liào chū le wèn tí

I thought it was safe, but something unexpectedly went wrong.

Illustration for 不料 (unexpectedly)

More examples

他信心满满，不料还是没通过考试。tā xìn xīn mán mǎn bú liào hái shì méi tōng guò kǎo shì

He was brimming with confidence, but he still unexpectedly failed the exam.

Core concept

The speaker's forecast is overturned when reality takes a different course.

Common phrases

  • 不料却bú liào què

    yet unexpectedly

  • 不料的是bú liào de shì

    the unexpected thing was

Similar words

没想到méi xiǎng dào: Signals surprise when an unanticipated event or result occurs.
竟然jìng rán: Marks a surprising fact or result that goes against common sense or expectation.
居然jū rán: Marks an unexpected act or result that differs from what seemed likely or usual.
出乎意料chū hū yì liào: Describes a result as far beyond what was expected.

Definition in Chinese

用来表示事情的发展或结果与原先判断不符，带有出乎意料的含义，通常作副词在句中引出转折。yòng lái biǎo shì shì qíng de fā zhǎn huò jié guǒ yǔ yuán xiān pàn duàn bù fú dài yǒu chū hū yì liào de hán yì tōng cháng zuò fù cí zài jù zhōng yǐn chū zhuǎn zhé

Word origin

不料 (bùliào, "unexpectedly") is formed from 不 (bù, "not") + 料 (liào, "estimate or anticipate"), so the actual result falls outside the estimate.

Usage tips

  • Its position before the new event gives spoken narratives a clear contrast between what seemed likely and what actually happened.

Opposites

Word lists with this word