永不

• Pinyin: yǒng bù
• Hanzi breakdown: 永 = 氵+ flowing strokes (endless water flow — forever); 不 = bird-flight pictograph (unreachable — negation)

Meaning

Never; at no time ever. An absolute negation across all time — past, present, and future.

A literary and formal intensifier combining 永 (forever) + 不 (not). Used to make solemn vows, state absolute principles, or articulate categorical moral or historical positions. More emphatic and rhetorically elevated than 从不 (habitually not) or 绝不 (absolutely not in a specific situation). Common in declarations, oaths, and formal pledges.

Examples

1. 中国明确表示，永不称霸、永不扩张、永不谋求势力范围。 China has made it clear that it will never seek hegemony, never expand, and never pursue a sphere of influence.
2. 这位幸存者多年奔走各地，讲述集中营经历，誓言让后人永不忘记那场浩劫。 This survivor spent years traveling to tell of the camp, vowing that future generations would never forget that catastrophe.
3. 科学史上的重大突破，源于探索者对未知永不满足，也源于他们对旧范式永不盲从。 Great breakthroughs in scientific history come from explorers who are never satisfied with the unknown and never blindly follow old paradigms.

Usage Guide

Context: diplomacy, vows, history, rhetoric

Tone: solemn

Do Say

• 这部二战纪录片借档案和幸存者口述提醒人们，人类永不应让法西斯主义死灰复燃。(This World War II documentary uses archives and survivor testimony to remind people that humanity must never let fascism rise again.)
• 红十字国际委员会主持的论坛上，六十多国专家重申，保护平民的国际人道法义务永不可因军事必要或主权主张而规避。(At the forum chaired by the International Committee of the Red Cross, experts from more than sixty countries reaffirmed that the duties of international humanitarian law protecting civilians can never be evaded because of military necessity or claims of sovereignty.)

Don't Say

• 我永不去那家餐厅了 — 永不 is too grandiose for everyday personal statements; use 再也不 for 'I'm never going again' in casual speech; 永不 is reserved for solemn declarations and formal rhetoric

Origin & History

永 (forever — 氵water flowing endlessly, original pictograph of a river's long flow) + 不 (not — pictograph of a bird flying upward, hence unreachable, negation)

Cultural Context

Era: Modern

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal