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无意识 (wú yì shí) — unconscious (not aware of one's surroundings or actions); unintentional (done without conscious intention)

Definition

Means 'unconscious' in two related senses: either physically unaware (a medical state) or acting without intention. In the second sense, contrast with 故意的 (deliberate) and 不知不觉 (unaware it was happening).

adjective
unconscious (not aware of one's surroundings or actions)unintentional (done without conscious intention)

Examples

  • 无意识，。
    Tā chǔ yú wú yì shí zhuàng tài, xū yào mǎ shàng sòng yī yuàn.
    He is in an unconscious state and needs to be sent to the hospital immediately.
  • 无意识，。
    Zhè shì yí gè wú yì shí de cuò wù, bú shì gù yì de.
    This is an unintentional mistake; it wasn't done on purpose.
  • 无意识，。
    Tā zuò le yí gè wú yì shí de dòng zuò, bǎ bēi zi pèng dǎo le.
    She made an unconscious movement and knocked over the cup.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

无wúnot have
意识consciousness
意yìthought识shíawareness
联合Coordinate

无 means 'not have' and 意识 means 'consciousness', so 无意识 describes lacking awareness or intention.

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 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 意 →

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 識; 识 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánsay
Sound part声符shēngfú
戠
戠zhí識zhì
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 識 pairs 言 (say) with 戠 as a sound part; the simplified 识 is a shorthand, so its parts are not the historical parts.

Open 识 →
Appears in
Thinking & Cognition

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