Welcome to ChineseFrequencyDictionary.com. Enter a Chinese character or compound Chinese word to lookup. If a valid dictionary entry is found, frequency information will be shown below:

Chinese Character/Word:

Definition(s) for: 无奈

Hanzi Pinyin Definition(s)
无奈 wú nài - to have no alternative
- frustrated
- exasperated
- helpless
- (conjunction) but unfortunately

List Ranking:

Where rank 1 is most common, and higher numbers are less common.

HSK 2 Level (2012) HSK 3 Band (2022) SUBTLEX-CH BeijingUni Global BeijingUni Weibo
5 5 15,152 2,436 1,697

Individual Character Breakdown:

Simp Pinyin Eng
- used in 南無|南无[na1mo2]
- not to have
- no
- none
- not
- to lack
- un-
- -less
nài- used in expressions that convey frustration and futility, such as 無奈|无奈[wu2 nai4] and 莫可奈何|莫可奈何[mo4 ke3 nai4 he2] (literary)
- used for its phonetic value in writing foreign words

Other Words Containing 无奈

Sorted by the 'SUBTLEX-CH' rank because that seems like the most reliable. Words without a SUBTLEX-CH rank are ignored for being too rare.

Word HSK 2 Level (2012) HSK 3 Band (2022) SUBTLEX-CH BeijingUni Global BeijingUni Weibo
无奈 5 5 15,152 2,436 1,697
万般无奈 - - 98,864 42,370 46,938