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正事 (zhèng shì) — one's proper business; serious matter; duty

Definition

正事 means serious, important business — the work or duties that genuinely matter, as opposed to trivia or small talk. In examples it is often negated (不是正事) to mark something as unimportant and deferrable.

noun
one's proper businessserious matterduty

Examples

  • 正事。
    Wǒ men xiān bǎ zhèng shì bàn wán zài qù wán.
    Let's finish our proper business first, then go play.
  • 正事，。
    Tā píng shí zhī tán zhèng shì, cóng bù xián liáo.
    He only talks about serious matters normally and never chit-chats.
  • 正事，。
    Zhè jiàn shì bú shì zhèng shì, kě yǐ shāo hòu chǔ lǐ.
    This matter is not a serious one; we can deal with it later.

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.

正zhèngproper
事shìmatter

正 (proper) and 事 (matter) combine to mean one's proper business.

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
止止zhǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng正zhèng
Same sound today

正 pairs 止 with 丁; 止 marks the sense and 丁 gives the sound.

Open 正 →

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

In 事, 又 is a hand and 中 is a flagpole with a drum; holding a flag in hand depicts performing a job.

Open 事 →
Appears in
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