对不起(duì bù qǐ) - sorry, excuse me in Mandarin

The phrase 对不起 is built from 对 'to face' plus the potential complement 不起 'cannot rise/cannot bear', literally 'unable to face (you)', the standard apology meaning 'sorry, excuse me'. 起 has the 走 (to run) radical with 己 as phonetic.

Origin

compound

Root

对 (duì, to face) + 不 (bù, not) + 起 (qǐ, to rise: 走 run + 己 phonetic)