误事 (wù shì) — to hold things up; to cause delays; to bungle matters; to mess things up

Definition

误事 (wù shì) is a verb meaning to derail or hold up a task — usually through carelessness or delay. It pairs with 别让/别因, not 把/被, and names the act of disrupting the work, not the mistake itself.

verb
to hold things upto cause delaysto bungle mattersto mess things up

Examples

  • ，误事。
    Tā zuò shì zǒng shì tuō tuō lā lā, jīng cháng wù shì.
    He always procrastinates and often holds things up.
  • ，。
    Jiù yīn wèi wǎn dào le shí fēn zhōng, tā wù le yí jiàn dà shì.
    Just because he arrived ten minutes late, he caused a major delay and bungled an important matter.
  • 误事，。
    Bié ràng zhè xiē xiǎo shì wù shì, wǒ men dé àn jì huà jìn xíng.
    Don't let these minor things bungle things — we need to proceed according to plan.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

误wùdelay or mess up
事shìmatter or business

误 means to delay or mess up, and 事 means matters or business, so it refers to delaying work or bungling affairs.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 誤; 误 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánspeech
Sound part声符shēngfú
吳
吳wú誤wù
Same sound today

The traditional form 誤 uses 言 (speech) for meaning and 吳 for sound, giving the idea of speaking an error; the simplified 误 is a later shorthand.

Open 误 →

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 →

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