无声 (wú shēng) — silent, noiseless, without sound

Definition

A more formal/literary word for 'silent, without sound.' In everyday speech 安静 is more natural; 沉默 refers specifically to a person choosing not to speak.

verb

silentnoiselesswithout sound

Examples

无声。
Tā wú shēng dì zǒu jìn le fáng jiān.
He silently entered the room.
无声。
Zhè bù diàn yǐng shì wú shēng de.
This movie is silent.
，无声。
Yè wǎn, zhěng gè shì jiè dōu shì wú shēng de.
At night, the whole world is silent.

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

声shēngsound

无 means without and 声 means sound, giving the sense of having no sound.

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 聲; 声 is its simplified writing.

殸耳聲

Meaning part形符xíngfú

耳耳ěrear

Sound part声符shēngfú

殸

殸qìng聲shēng

Same sound today

The traditional form 聲 pairs 耳 (ear) with 殸 as a sound part; the simplified 声 is a shorthand and does not show those original parts.

Open 声 →