Kilo Lingo

(wú liáo) - bored, boring, dull, senseless in Mandarin

liáo

Traditional: 無聊

Line drawing of 无聊
Coloured illustration of 无聊
#1468 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

bored, boring, dull, senseless

Word origin

A compound of 无 (wú, without) and 聊 (liáo, to chat, interest), literally without anything to engage one, hence bored or dull.

Origin
compound
Root
无 (wú, without) + 聊 (liáo, to chat)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 无

Stroke order for 聊

Examples

Being home alone is so boring.

This film is too dull.

Don't ask such senseless questions.

When he is bored he plays on his phone.

The whole afternoon was very dull.

无聊 (wú liáo) describes both the feeling of being bored and a thing that is boring or dull, and can also mean senseless or pointless. It contrasts with 有趣 (yǒu qù, interesting).

Where this fits

Add to review queue

Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.

Go to my review queue

Mandarin · Free printables

无聊: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "无聊" (bored, boring, dull, senseless): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

Free for members

The printable worksheets, infographics and PDFs are free with an account. Start a free week and download as many as you like.

Start your free week

This word is part of lesson 30.