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无偿 (wú cháng) — free of charge, gratis, at no cost (formal)

Definition

Formal/written 'free of charge, without pay' — used for services like aid, volunteering, or donations. 免费 is the everyday spoken equivalent; 白 can also mean free but is colloquial and limited (e.g., 白吃).

adjective
free of chargegratisat no cost (formal)

Examples

  • 无偿。
    Gāi gōng sī wèi zāi qū tí gōng le wú cháng yuán zhù.
    The company provided free aid to the disaster area.
  • ，无偿。
    Tā zuò wéi zhì yuàn zhě, wú cháng wèi shè qū fú wù le shí nián.
    As a volunteer, he served the community for ten years without pay.
  • 无偿。
    Zhè zhǒng wú cháng xiàn xiě huó dòng xī yǐn le hěn duō shì mín cān jiā.
    This kind of free blood donation event attracted many citizens to participate.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

无wúwithout
偿chángpayment

Without and payment combine to mean free of charge.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 無; 无 is its simplified writing.

For the simplified 无, the story is about 無. 無 drew a person dancing with ox tails held in both hands to pray for rain, then was borrowed for 'have no', so the picture does not explain that meaning.

Open 无 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 償; 偿 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rén
Sound part声符shēngfú
賞
賞shǎng償cháng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 償 pairs 亻 (person) with 賞 as the sound part; the simplified 偿 is a later shorthand, not a historical component breakdown.

Open 偿 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Money & Currency

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