何谓 (hé wèi) — what is meant by; what is the meaning of (formal/literary)

Definition

Literary / written phrase meaning 'what is meant by' or 'what does … mean' — used in essays, theses, and rhetorical questions about abstract concepts like freedom or justice.

idiom
what is meant bywhat is the meaning of (formal/literary)

Examples

  • 何谓？。
    hé wèi Xìng fú? zhè shì yí gè gǔ lǎo de wèn tí.
    What is meant by happiness? This is an ancient question.
  • 何谓？。
    hé wèi Zhèng yì? bù tóng shí dài yǒu bù tóng lǐ jiě.
    What is the meaning of justice? Different eras have different understandings.
  • ，何谓。
    Zài lùn wén zhōng, tā shǒu xiān tǎo lùn le hé wèi zì yóu.
    In his thesis, he first discussed what is meant by freedom.

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.

何héwhat
谓wèicall

The idea of 何 as what joined with 谓 as call gives what is meant.

Characters in this word

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

The old form of 何 drew a person carrying something on their shoulder. If the carried thing was a 戈, the 人 and 戈 parts together showed that picture.

Open 何 →

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 謂; 谓 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yán
Sound part声符shēngfú
胃
胃wèi謂wèi
Same sound today

The traditional form 謂 pairs 言, which marks speech, with 胃 as a sound component; the simplified 谓 is a later abbreviation.

Open 谓 →

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