created sense approved 要不是 · yàobushì · if it were not for — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"
要不是
yàobushì
if it were not for
Used at the start of a sentence or clause to introduce a hypothetical situation that did not happen, meaning "if it were not for" or "but for"
yàobúshì
要 (literal) → 要 · yào · if 不 (literal) → 不 · bù · not 是 (literal) → 是 · shì · to be
Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition
created sense approved 要不是 · yàobushì · either... or... — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"
要不是
yàobushì
either... or...
Used in coordinated constructions with [[就是|就是|jiu4 shi4]] to indicate that if it is not one thing, then it must be the other; if it isn't A, it's B
要 (literal) → 要 · yào · if 不 (literal) → 不 · bù · not 是 (literal) → 是 · shì · to be
Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition