无私 (wú sī) — selfless; unselfish; altruistic

Definition

无私 (wúsī) means 'selfless' — putting others or a cause before yourself. It is the direct antonym of 自私 ('selfish'); 大公无私 is a stronger chengyu form emphasizing impartiality, not just lack of self-interest.

adjective

selflessunselfishaltruistic

Examples

无私，。
Tā de xíng wéi fēi cháng wú sī, ràng rén gǎn dòng.
His behavior is very selfless and touching.
，无私。
Zài zāi nàn miàn qián, tā zhǎn xiàn chū le wú sī de jīng shén.
In the face of disaster, he showed a selfless spirit.
无私。
Wǒ men dōu jìng pèi nà xiē wèi shè huì zuò chū wú sī gòng xiàn de rén.
We all admire those who make selfless contributions to society.

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

私sīselfishness

The idea of 无, meaning without, combines with 私, meaning selfishness, to suggest selflessness.

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.

禾厶私

Meaning part形符xíngfú

禾禾hé

Sound part声符shēngfú

厶

厶sī私sī

Same sound today

私 combines 禾 and 厶; 厶 originally represented the word, and 禾 was added later.

Open 私 →

Appears in