万物 (wàn wù) — all things in nature; all creation

Definition

A literary word for 'all things in the world, all of creation' — broader and more poetic than 全部 (which means 'all/everything' of a specific set), and centered on natural/existential things rather than the general 事物 ('things, objects').

noun

all things in natureall creation

Examples

万物。
Dà zì rán shì wàn wù de yuán quán.
Nature is the source of all things.
万物。
wàn wù Dōu yǒu zì jǐ de shēng cún fǎ zé.
All things have their own survival rules.
万物。
Tā xiāng xìn wàn wù zhī jiān cún zài zhe lián xì.
He believes there are connections among all things.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

万wànmyriad

物wùthings

万 (myriad) + 物 (things) means all things in nature.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 萬; 万 is its simplified writing.

For 万, the form 萬 was originally a picture of a scorpion, later borrowed for its sound to write 'ten thousand'; the scorpion picture is unrelated to that number.

Open 万 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

牛勿物

Meaning part形符xíngfú

牛牛niú

Sound part声符shēngfú

勿

勿wù物wù

Same sound today

物 puts 牛 beside 勿: 牛 gives the meaning, and 勿 gives the sound.

Open 物 →

Appears in