本来
Pinyin: běn lái
originally
Example sentence
我本来想去，后来没去。
Wǒ běnlái xiǎng qù, hòulái méi qù.
I originally wanted to go but didn't.
What 本来 means
本来 (běn lái) is an Chinese word meaning “originally”. It belongs to the Grammar Words topic and appears at HSK 4, so it is one of the words worth learning early when you study Chinese.