世道 (shì dào) — the general state of society; social conditions; the way of the world; the moral climate or ethos of a particular time

Definition

世道 refers to the moral climate and overall state of society at a given time — often with a negative slant, as in laments that 'the world has gone bad.'

noun
the general state of societysocial conditionsthe way of the worldthe moral climate or ethos of a particular time

Examples

  • 世道。
    Xiàn zài de shì dào gēn yǐ qián dà bù xiāng tóng le.
    The state of society now is very different from before.
  • ,。
    Zài zhè luàn shì dào lǐ, néng huó zhe jiù bú cuò le.
    In these chaotic times, it's good enough to just stay alive.
  • 世道,。
    Tā cháng cháng gǎn tàn shì dào bù gōng, hǎo rén méi hǎo bào.
    He often laments that the way of the world is unjust and good people get no reward.

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.

世 “world” and 道 “way” suggest the way of the world, its social state.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
行行xíngstreet
止止zhǐfoot
Sound part声符shēngfú
𩠐
首shǒu道dào
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

Early 道 showed a street 行, a foot 止, and a part written 首 or 𩠐; the right part of 行 later disappeared.

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