it can't be helped; there's no other way
A set phrase expressing resignation or acceptance that a situation is unavoidable. Slightly formal or literary in tone.
Now that it has come to this, it can't be helped.
I had no choice but to give up, accepting that there was no other way.
Kanji form using 止む and 方; rarely used in modern writing.
Mixed kanji-kana form; less common than the pure kana spelling.
Mixed kanji-kana form; rarely seen.
From 止む (yamu, 'to stop, cease') + 方 (kata, 'way, method') + なし (nashi, classical negative adjective). Literally 'there is no way to stop it', expressing inevitability.