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善人 (shàn rén) — virtuous person; good person (in a moral sense); philanthropist (person who donates to worthy causes)

Definition

noun
virtuous persongood person (in a moral sense)philanthropist (person who donates to worthy causes)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 善人，。
    Tā shì yí wèi shàn rén, jīng cháng bāng zhù yǒu kùn nan de rén.
    He is a virtuous person who often helps people in need.
  • ，善人。
    Zài chuán tǒng gù shi lǐ, shàn rén zuì hòu dōu huì dé dào hǎo bào.
    In traditional stories, virtuous people always get rewarded in the end.
  • 善人。
    Zhè wèi shàn rén juān le yí dà bǐ qián gěi cūn lǐ de xué xiào.
    This philanthropist donated a large sum of money to the village school.

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.

善shànvirtuous
人rénperson

“善” gives virtue and “人” gives person, so a virtuous person.

Characters in this word

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

An earlier form of 善 joined 羊, a sheep linked with goodness or beauty, and 誩, described as a wrangle; the reference says this meaning link is hard to understand.

Open 善 →

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.

Open 人 →
Appears in
People (General)Personality & Traits

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