无记名 (wú jì míng) — anonymous; without a name; (attributive) unnamed

Definition

Used as an attributive before a noun to mean 'anonymous' or 'unnamed' — e.g. 无记名投票 (anonymous voting), 无记名信 (unsigned letter).

adjective
anonymouswithout a name(attributive) unnamed

Examples

  • 无记名。
    Zhè cì xuǎn jǔ cǎi yòng wú jì míng tóu piào fāng shì.
    This election uses anonymous voting.
  • 无记名。
    Tā shōu dào yì fēng wú jì míng xìn.
    He received an anonymous letter.
  • 无记名，。
    Zài zhè ge wú jì míng qíng kuàng xià, wǒ men wú fǎ què dìng lái yuán.
    In this unnamed situation, we cannot determine the source.

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
记名record a name
记jìrecord名míngname
动宾Verb + object

无 means without, and 记名 means record a name; together they describe something with no name recorded.

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 記; 记 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánspeech; words
Sound part声符shēngfú
己
己jǐ記jì
Same sound today

The traditional form 記 pairs 言 (speech; words) with 己 as a sound part; the simplified 记 is a later shorthand, so its right side is not the historical component.

Open 记 →

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

名 puts 夕 (crescent moon) above 口 (mouth), showing a name spoken in the dark.

Open 名 →

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