不
不 character breakdown
(bound form) to divine / to forecast or estimate / (of a place to live etc) to choose
卜
=
丨
+
丶
:
Mnemonic symbol from "to divine" and the shape of the character: a voodoo staff.
Bruno Bear (bu-) tries to divine (卜) the future in the space station's living room (Ø3). He places a petal (丶) in the middle of the room as an offering and starts a magic ritual with his voodoo staff (卜). The staff transforms the petal into a dinosaur bone (丨). Bruno divines that the staff was trying to tell him that all things are mortal and must come to an end.
Bruno Bear (bu-) tries to divine (卜) the future in the space station's living room (Ø3). He places a petal (丶) in the middle of the room as an offering and starts a magic ritual with his voodoo staff (卜). The staff transforms the petal into a dinosaur bone (丨). Bruno divines that the staff was trying to tell him that all things are mortal and must come to an end.
Characters with 不 as component
variant of 杯[bei1] / trophy cup / classifier for certain containers of liquids: glass, cup
杯
=
不
+
木
:
Beelzebub (b) won a trophy cup (杯) for his amazing Christmas tree (木). Actually, it was forbidden to log trees in front of the Eiffel Tower (ei1); but Beelzebub didn't care and took the tree anyway. He even took the forbidden sign (不) as well, and as he receives his trophy cup he uses the forbidden sign as a tablet to put the trophy cup on.
Words with 不
lit. one palm alone cannot clap (proverb) / fig. it takes two persons to start a dispute / it takes two to tango / it's difficult to achieve anything without support
lit. you cannot get fat with only one mouthful (proverb) / fig. learn to walk before you run
lit. either don't do it, or don't rest (idiom) / fig. if you do it at all, you may as well go the whole hog / in for a penny, in for a pound