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未遂 (wèi suì) — (of an attempt) to fail; abortive; attempted but unsuccessful

Definition

未遂 means an attempt that didn't succeed — always used for crimes, coups, or suicides (e.g. 杀人未遂, 政变未遂), not ordinary failures. Pairs with 自杀, 政变, 行凶 as a set compound.

verb
(of an attempt) to failabortiveattempted but unsuccessful

Examples

  • 未遂。
    Tā shā rén wèi suì.
    He attempted murder but failed.
  • 未遂。
    Nà cì zhèng biàn wèi suì le.
    That coup attempt failed.
  • 未遂。
    Tā de zì shā wèi suì shì jiàn yǐn qǐ le guān zhù.
    Her attempted suicide incident drew attention.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

未wèinot yet
遂suìsucceed

The meanings of 未 (not yet) and 遂 (succeed) combine to express an attempt that has not succeeded.

Characters in this word

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

The shape 未 shows a tree with extra branches spreading above its trunk, like lush, overlapping limbs.

Open 未 →

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
辵辵chuò
Sound part声符shēngfú
㒸
㒸㒸遂suì
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

遂 is made of 辵 and 㒸; 㒸 gives the sound, and the original form 㒸 does not refer to pigs.

Open 遂 →
Appears in
Success & Failure

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