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无可奈何

wú kě nài hé

with no way out; helpless

Character by character

无wú
no
可kě
can
奈nài
deal with
何hé
how

Example

他无可奈何地叹了口气。
He sighed helplessly.

Tone: neutral.

Usage and origin

Famous from Yan Shu's line 无可奈何花落去 ('helpless, the flowers fall'); 奈 is often miswritten 耐.

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