Chinese word

难以想象

Pronunciation

Pinyinnán yǐ xiǎng xiàng

Meaning

  • verbbe hard to imagine

Example

没有你，我难以想象生活。méi yǒu nǐ wǒ nán yí xiǎng xiàng shēng huó

Without you, it is hard to imagine life.

Illustration for 难以想象 (be hard to imagine)

More examples

他的遭遇令人同情，但结局却是难以想象的悲剧。tā de zāo yù lìng rén tóng qíng dàn jié jú què shì nán yí xiǎng xiàng de bēi jù

His experience arouses sympathy, but the ending is an unimaginable tragedy.

Core concept

A situation or result that the mind finds difficult to picture clearly, making it seem beyond belief or impossible.

Common phrases

  • 令人难以想象lìng rén nán yí xiǎng xiàng

    be hard to imagine

  • 难以想象的后果nán yí xiǎng xiàng de hòu guǒ

    unimaginable consequences

  • 难以想象的规模nán yí xiǎng xiàng de guī mó

    unimaginable scale

Similar words

想象不到xiǎng xiàng bú dào: Unable to imagine how a particular event or result could happen.
无法想象wú fǎ xiǎng xiàng: Not possible to picture a situation or result in the mind.
很难想象hěn nán xiǎng xiàng: Requires great effort to imagine a situation or result clearly.

Definition in Chinese

表示某事很难在脑中形成清晰画面，强调无法想象其情景或结果，常用作动词短语。biǎo shì mǒu shì hěn nán zài nǎo zhōng xíng chéng qīng xī huà miàn qiáng diào wú fǎ xiǎng xiàng qí qíng jǐng huò jié guǒ cháng yòng zuò dòng cí duán yǔ

Word origin

难 (nán, "difficult") + 以 (yǐ, "to be able to") makes an action difficult, and 想 (xiǎng, "think") + 象 (xiàng, "image") frames that action as creating a mental picture.

Usage tips

  • This four-syllable expression has a formal, compact tone, so a simpler spoken construction is often more natural in casual conversation.

Other meanings

  • be hard to believeverb
  • be unthinkableverb

Opposites

  • 想象得到xiǎng xiàng de dàobe able to imagineverb

Related words

Word lists with this word