有为 (yǒu wéi) — to have accomplishments; promising; to achieve something notable

Definition

有为 (yǒu wéi) describes a person (usually young) with drive and real accomplishments — often rendered 'promising.' It is an adjective-like predicate that takes 的 before a noun (有为的青年), not a verb that takes an object.

verb
to have accomplishmentspromisingto achieve something notable
Easily confused

Examples

  • 有为，。
    Tā shì yí wèi yǒu wéi de qīng nián, qián tú bù kě xiàn liàng.
    He is a promising young man with unlimited potential.
  • ，有为。
    Zì gǔ yīng xióng chū shào nián, shào nián yǒu wéi dāng zì qiáng.
    Since ancient times heroes have come from youth; a promising youth should strive to improve himself.
  • ，有为。
    Tā nián jì qīng qīng jiù shì yè yǒu chéng, zhēn shì gè yǒu wéi zhī rén.
    He achieved success at such a young age — truly a man of great promise.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

有yǒuhave
为wèiachievement

有 means have and 为 means achievement, so they say one has something to accomplish.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
肉肉ròumeat
Sound part声符shēngfú
又
又yòu有yǒu
Same sound today

The form 有 combines 又, used for its sound, with a shape from 肉, 'meat'; the hand-holding-meat story is a folk explanation, not shown in the oldest shape.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 為; 为 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 為 showed a hand holding an elephant; the simplified 为 is a later shorthand.

Open 为 →

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