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为非作歹 (wéi fēi zuò dǎi) — to do all kinds of evil, to commit every crime

Definition

A literary idiom meaning to commit all kinds of crimes and evil deeds — stronger and more formal than the everyday verb 做坏事. Almost always used for villains, criminals, or abusers of power.

idiom
to do all kinds of evilto commit every crime

Examples

  • 为非作歹，。
    Zhè ge è bà zài cūn lǐ wéi fēi zuò dǎi, méi rén gǎn guǎn.
    This bully did all kinds of evil in the village, and no one dared to stop him.
  • ，为非作歹。
    Xiǎo shuō lǐ de fǎn pài wú è bú zuò, wéi fēi zuò dǎi le yí bèi zi.
    The villain in the novel committed every crime and did evil his whole life.
  • 为非作歹，。
    Tā men wéi fēi zuò dǎi, zuì zhōng shòu dào le fǎ lǜ de yán chéng.
    They committed all kinds of evil and were finally severely punished by the law.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

为非do wrong
为wèido非fēiwrong
动宾Verb + object
作歹do evil
作zuòdo歹dǎievil
动宾Verb + object

为非 means doing wrong and 作歹 means doing evil, so together they mean committing evil deeds.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 為; 为 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 為 showed a hand holding an elephant; the simplified 为 is a later shorthand.

Open 为 →

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

The shape of 非 is drawn from two wings facing opposite directions. It later came to be used for going against or not being.

Open 非 →

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
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
乍
乍zhà作zuò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left side 亻 comes from 人, meaning 'person', and the right side 乍 gives the sound.

Open 作 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 歹 →
Appears in
Crime & PoliceIdioms & Set Phrases

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