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无罪 (wú zuì) — innocent, not guilty

Definition

Legal/legal-press term meaning 'innocent / not guilty', used in verdicts and official rulings (e.g. 无罪判决). As a predicate it follows 判定/判决/宣布; in attributive use it takes 的 (无罪的).

verb
innocentnot guilty

Examples

  • ，无罪。
    Jǐng fāng yīn zhèng jù bù zú shì fàng le tā, rèn dìng tā wú zuì.
    The police released him due to insufficient evidence, concluding that he was innocent.
  • 无罪。
    wú zuì Pàn jué ràng tā de jiā rén sōng le yì kǒu qì.
    The not-guilty verdict made his family feel relieved.
  • 无罪。
    Tā yì zhí jiān chí shuō zì jǐ shì wú zuì de.
    He has always insisted that he is innocent.

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
罪zuìguilt

Not having guilt gives the sense of innocence.

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 →

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

罪 puts 罒 (a net, written fully as 网) over 非 (mistake).

Open 罪 →
Appears in
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