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自由职业者 (zì yóu zhí yè zhě) — freelancer; self-employed person

Definition

A person who works for themselves rather than for a company — no fixed employer, often with flexible hours but unstable income. Closely related to 自由职业 (the job/occupation) rather than to a formal company employee.

noun
freelancerself-employed person
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 自由职业者，。
    Tā shì yì míng zì yóu zhí yè zhě, zài jiā zuò shè jì gōng zuò.
    He is a freelancer, doing design work at home.
  • 自由职业者。
    Yuè lái yuè duō de nián qīng rén xuǎn zé chéng wéi zì yóu zhí yè zhě.
    More and more young people choose to become self-employed.
  • 自由职业者，。
    zì yóu zhí yè zhě De shōu rù bù wěn dìng, dàn shí jiān bǐ jiào zì yóu.
    Freelancers have unstable income, but their time is relatively free.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

自由职业free occupation
自zìself由yóufollow职zhíduty业yèwork
偏正Modifier + head
者zhěperson

自由 and 职业 describe a self-directed occupation, and 者 points to the person who does it.

Characters in this word

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

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

自 originally drew a nose. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write 自, so the picture and the meaning are unrelated.

Open 自 →

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

It began as a drawing of new shoots or leaves growing upward from a plant-like base.

Open 由 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 職; 职 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
耳耳ěrear
Sound part声符shēngfú
戠
戠zhí職zhí
Same sound today

The traditional form 職 pairs 耳 (ear) with 戠, which gives its sound; the simplified 职 is a shorthand, so its parts are not the historical parts.

Open 职 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 業; 业 is its simplified writing.

  • 丵丵zhuóchisel
  • 大大dàperson; big

The traditional 業 is explained as a picture of a beam from which bells and chimes hang, or as a person lifting that beam. The simplified 业 is a shorthand, not the original shape.

Open 业 →

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

The form 者 originally drew a sugarcane with full stems, small points around it, and an open smiling mouth at the bottom.

Open 者 →
Appears in
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