人为 (rén wéi) — artificial, man-made (caused by human action)

Definition

人为 focuses on 'man-made, caused by humans' (especially accidents or problems), more formal than 假 and more blame-focused than 人工.

adjective

artificialman-made (caused by human action)

Easily confused

人为。
Zhè cì shì gù shì rén wéi de.
This accident was man-made.
人为。
Wǒ men yīng gāi jiǎn shǎo rén wéi yīn sù.
We should reduce human factors.
人为。
Zhè zhǒng rén wéi gān yù kě néng dài lái wèn tí.
This kind of human intervention may bring problems.

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.

为wèido or make

'人' means human and '为' means to do or make, so it describes something caused by humans.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 為; 为 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 為 showed a hand holding an elephant; the simplified 为 is a later shorthand.

Appears in