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万不得已

wàn bù dé yǐ

as a last resort

Character by character

万wàn
ten-thousand
不bù
not
得dé
able
已yǐ
stop

Example

不到万不得已,我不会找父母借钱。
I won’t borrow from my parents unless I absolutely have to.

Tone: neutral.

Usage and origin

Usually 不到万不得已 or 万不得已才….

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