功不可没

gōng bù kě mò

someone’s contribution cannot be denied; deserves credit

Character by character

功gōng
merit

不bù
not

可kě
can

没mò
be buried

这场比赛能赢，守门员功不可没。

The goalkeeper deserves real credit for this win.

Tone: positive (praise).

The usual form is X功不可没, often to give credit to a helper, a team or a forerunner rather than the star. 没 here is mò (to sink out of sight), not méi.

Learn this in Lesson 158 · HSK 7–9: 青蒿素 (Artemisinin: from an old recipe to a Nobel Prize)

A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.