待业 (dài yè) — to be unemployed and waiting for a job (often used in formal/official contexts)

Definition

待业 means 'to be unemployed and looking for work' — formal/official term, common in news and government contexts. Closer to a status than a temporary state, unlike 失业 which simply means having lost a job.

verb
to be unemployed and waiting for a job (often used in formal/official contexts)

Examples

  • 待业。
    Tā bì yè hòu yì zhí zài dài yè.
    He has been unemployed and waiting for a job since graduation.
  • ，。
    Tā dài le bàn nián yè, zhōng yú zhǎo dào gōng zuò le.
    He was unemployed for half a year and finally found a job.
  • 待业。
    Hěn duō dà xué bì yè shēng zàn shí dài yè.
    Many college graduates are temporarily unemployed and waiting for jobs.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

待dàiwait
业yèjob

待 means wait and 业 means job, so it describes waiting for employment.

Characters in this word

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
彳彳chì
Sound part声符shēngfú
寺
寺sì待dài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

待 is built from 彳 on the left and 寺 on the right; 彳 is tied to the meaning, and 寺 gives the sound.

Open 待 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 業; 业 is its simplified writing.

  • 丵丵zhuóchisel
  • 大大dàperson; big

The traditional 業 is explained as a picture of a beam from which bells and chimes hang, or as a person lifting that beam. The simplified 业 is a shorthand, not the original shape.

Open 业 →

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