不料 (bù liào) means “unexpectedly; to one's surprise”. It is an HSK 6 Chinese word in the HSK 3.0 vocabulary.
Practice each character:
不料天突然下起雨来。
Bùliào tiān túrán xià qǐ yǔ lái.
Unexpectedly, it suddenly started raining.
Updated: 2026-05-27