乏味 (fá wèi) — dull, boring, uninteresting

Definition

adjective
dullboringuninteresting

Examples

  • 乏味
    Zhè běn shū de nèi róng tài fá wèi le.
    The content of this book is too dull.
  • 乏味
    Wǒ jué de tā de yǎn jiǎng hěn fá wèi.
    I think his speech was very boring.
  • 乏味
    Zhè zhǒng gōng zuò hěn fá wèi, wǒ bù xiǎng zuò.
    This kind of work is very boring; I don't want to do it.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

lack
wèitaste

乏 means lack and 味 means taste, so the whole suggests dullness.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 乏 →

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
kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
wèiwèi
Same sound today

味 combines 口 (mouth) with 未, which gives the sound wèi; the mouth part relates to taste.

Open 味 →
Appears in

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.