何不

Chinese

		carry; what; how carry; what; how; why; which	not; no
simp. and trad. (何不)		何	不

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): hébù

  (Zhuyin): ㄏㄜˊ ㄅㄨˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): ho⁴ bat¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: hébù
    • Zhuyin: ㄏㄜˊ ㄅㄨˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: hébù
    • Wade–Giles: ho²-pu⁴
    • Yale: hé-bù
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: herbu
    • Palladius: хэбу (xɛbu)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /xɤ³⁵ pu⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: ho⁴ bat¹
    • Yale: hòh bāt
    • Cantonese Pinyin: ho⁴ bat⁷
    • Guangdong Romanization: ho⁴ bed¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /hɔː²¹ pɐt̚⁵/

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• Middle Chinese: ha pjuw|pjuwX|pjut

Rime
Character	何	不	不	不
Reading #	1/2	1/3	2/3	3/3
Initial (聲)	匣 (33)	幫 (1)	幫 (1)	幫 (1)
Final (韻)	歌 (94)	尤 (136)	尤 (136)	物 (60)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)	Rising (X)	Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open	Open	Closed
Division (等)	I	III	III	III
Fanqie	胡歌切	甫鳩切	方久切	分勿切
Baxter	ha	pjuw	pjuwX	pjut
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ɦɑ/	/pɨu/	/pɨuX/	/pɨut̚/
Pan Wuyun	/ɦɑ/	/piu/	/piuX/	/piut̚/
Shao Rongfen	/ɣɑ/	/piəu/	/piəuX/	/piuət̚/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ɦa/	/puw/	/puwX/	/put̚/
Li Rong	/ɣɑ/	/piu/	/piuX/	/piuət̚/
Wang Li	/ɣɑ/	/pĭəu/	/pĭəuX/	/pĭuət̚/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ɣɑ/	/pi̯ə̯u/	/pi̯ə̯uX/	/pi̯uət̚/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	hé	fōu	fǒu	fu
Expected Cantonese Reflex	ho4	fau1	fau2	fat1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[ɡ]ˤaj  pə/

  (Zhengzhang): /*ɡaːl  pɯ|pɯʔ|pɯ'/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	何	不
Reading #	1/1	1/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	hé	bù
Middle Chinese	‹ ha ›	‹ pjuw ›
Old Chinese	/*[ɡ]ˁaj/	/*pə/
English	what	not
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	何	不	不	不
Reading #	1/2	1/3	2/3	3/3
No.	7458	1025	1029	1048
Phonetic component	可	不	不	不
Rime group	歌	之	之	物
Rime subdivision	1	0	0	1
Corresponding MC rime	何	不	缶	弗
Old Chinese	/*ɡaːl/	/*pɯ/	/*pɯʔ/	/*pɯ'/
Notes			象花柎與本同源	中古才促化

Adverb

何不

1. (literary) why not
   • 2020, “拼命無恙 [In a Funk]”, 林夕 [Albert Leung] (lyrics), 林家謙 [Terence Lam] (music)‎^[1]performed by 林家謙 [Terence Lam]:

     要是這樣豁達又何不專心著書 [Literary Cantonese, trad.]
     要是这样豁达又何不专心著书 [Literary Cantonese, simp.]

     jiu³ si⁶ ze² joeng⁶ kut³ daat⁶ jau⁶ ho⁴ bat¹ zyun¹ sam¹ zyu³ syu¹ [Jyutping]

     If so open-minded, why not concentrate on writing a book?

Synonyms

• (Hokkien) 哪毋
• (Xiang) 叫莫

Derived terms

• 何不食肉糜 (hébù shí ròumí)