除不尽

除不盡

chúbùjìn

phrase

Meanings

1 indivisible (math, leaving a remainder)
2 cannot be divided evenly

Characters

to divide; remove

exhausted; complete

Examples

10除以3除不尽。

Shí chú yǐ sān chú bù jìn.

Ten divided by three doesn't divide evenly.

这个数除不尽，会有小数。

Zhè ge shù chú bù jìn, huì yǒu xiǎoshù.

This number can't be divided evenly — there'll be decimals.

Tips

grammar

Verb-potential-complement structure: 除 (divide) + 不 (cannot) + 尽 (exhaustively). The opposite is 除得尽 'divides evenly'. Compare 用不完 'can't be used up', 吃不完 'can't be finished eating' — same pattern.

Stroke Order

除 chú

不 bù

尽 jǐn