TongTong
Sign in

有益 (yǒu yì) — beneficial, useful, profitable

Definition

有益 means 'beneficial' — used for things that have a positive effect on health, learning, or development. More formal than 有用, broader/more positive than 有利 (which focuses on advantage to a goal).

adjective
beneficialusefulprofitable
Easily confused

Examples

  • 有益。
    Duō dú shū duì xué xí yǒu yì.
    Reading more is beneficial for studying.
  • 有益。
    Zhè zhǒng yùn dòng duì shēn tǐ hěn yǒu yì.
    This kind of exercise is very beneficial to the body.
  • 有益。
    Tā de jiàn yì duì wǒ men hěn yǒu yǒu yì.
    His advice is very useful to us.

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
益yìbenefit

“有” (have) and “益” (benefit) combine to mean having benefit, hence useful or beneficial.

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.

Open 有 →

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

益 puts 水 (water) above 皿 (a vessel), originally showing water overflowing the vessel.

Open 益 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5Good & Bad

Browse more HSK 5 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.