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理事 (lǐ shì) — (noun) council member, director (of an organization); (verb, literary) to take care of matters, to handle affairs

Definition

As a noun, 理事 refers to a council member or director of an organization — a role more formal and collective than 经理 (a company manager). As a verb (literary), it means 'to handle affairs,' close to 办事 but written in style.

noun
council memberdirector (of an organization)
verb
(verb, literary) to take care of mattersto handle affairs
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 理事。
    Tā shì zhè ge guó jì zǔ zhī de lǐ shì zhī yī.
    He is one of the council members of this international organization.
  • 理事。
    Xīn dāng xuǎn de lǐ shì jiāng zài xià zhōu jiù zhí.
    The newly elected council members will take office next week.
  • 理事，。
    Tā zhōng rì lǐ shì, cóng bú xiè dài.
    He spends his days handling affairs without ever slacking off.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

理lǐmanage
事shìaffairs

理 means to manage and 事 means affairs, so 理事 covers handling affairs or a person who does so.

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
玉玉yùjade
Sound part声符shēngfú
里
里lǐ理lǐ
Same sound today

理 pairs 玉 (jade) with 里, which shows how to say it; the jade part points to the old sense of polishing jade.

Open 理 →

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
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Groups & OrganizationsManagement

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