事变 (shì biàn) — incident (especially a major historical or political turning point); emergency; exigency

Definition

Literary/formal noun for a major incident or sudden crisis that changes the course of events. Concrete emergencies use 紧急情况 instead; this term leans historical (e.g. 西安事变).

noun
incident (especially a major historical or political turning point)emergencyexigency

Examples

  • 事变。
    Xī ān shì biàn shì zhōng guó jìn dài shǐ shàng de zhòng yào shì jiàn.
    The Xi'an Incident was an important event in modern Chinese history.
  • 事变，。
    Tū rán shì biàn, quán chéng jìn rù jǐn jí zhuàng tài.
    A sudden emergency put the entire city into a state of urgency.
  • 事变。
    Zhè cì shì biàn gǎi biàn le zhěng gè guó jiā de mìng yùn.
    This incident changed the fate of the entire country.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

事shìaffairs
变biànchange

The 事 for affairs and 变 for change combine: when affairs change, an incident or emergency arises.

Characters in this word

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 →

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 變; 变 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
攴攴pū
Sound part声符shēngfú
䜌
䜌䜌變biàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 變 uses 䜌 as a sound part and 攴 as a meaning part.

Open 变 →

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