居高不下

jūgāo bú xià

phrase HSK 7-9 #93,311

Meanings

1 to remain high (of prices, rates, figures)
2 to stay stubbornly high

Characters

to sit at; to occupy

Examples

HSK 7-9

房价居高不下，年轻人买房越来越难。

Fángjià jūgāo bú xià, niánqīngrén mǎi fáng yuèláiyuè nán.

House prices stay stubbornly high, and buying is getting harder and harder for young people.

HSK 7-9

今年夏天气温居高不下。

Jīnnián xiàtiān qìwēn jūgāo bú xià.

Temperatures have stayed high all summer this year.

HSK 7-9

失业率居高不下，政府压力很大。

Shīyèlǜ jūgāo bú xià, zhèngfǔ yālì hěn dà.

With the unemployment rate staying high, the government is under real pressure.

Tips

usage

The subject is always a figure people want to come down: 房价, 物价, 失业率, 气温. News language, and it always carries a note of complaint.

mistakes

Before a fourth tone 不 shifts to second, so this is said jūgāo bú xià, never bù xià. Nothing in the characters shows the change, it exists only in the sound.

Stroke Order

居 jū

高 gāo

不 bù

下 xià