有用之才 (yǒu yòng zhī cái) — a person of useful talent; a capable individual

Definition

A literary phrase meaning 'a person of practical, useful talent' — used to praise someone's real-world ability. Compare 人才 (talent in general) and 能力 (ability): 有用之才 emphasizes proven usefulness, not just potential.

idiom
a person of useful talenta capable individual

Examples

  • 有用之才，。
    Gōng sī xū yào péi yǎng gèng duō yǒu yòng zhī cái, cái néng chí xù fā zhǎn.
    The company needs to cultivate more useful talents in order to sustain development.
  • 有用之才。
    Tā shì yí gè bù kě duō dé de yǒu yòng zhī cái.
    He is a rare person of useful talent.
  • ，有用之才。
    Zhè cì zhāo pìn, wǒ men zhī xuǎn bá yǒu yòng zhī cái.
    In this recruitment, we only select capable talents.

Origin

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

用 was formed by adding a handle to an earlier form.

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

The shape pairs 止, a foot, with 一, a beginning place, and means to go.

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A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

才 originally drew a sharp peg, not a sprout growing from the ground.

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