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作用 (zuò yòng) — (noun) effect, function, impact; (verb) to act on, to affect (often used in 起作用 or 作用于)

Definition

作用 (zuòyòng) is a noun meaning 'effect / function / impact' — broader and more neutral than 影响 (often about influence on people/events) and more general than 效果 (a specific concrete result). As a verb it means 'to act on' (作用于).

noun
effectfunctionimpact
verb
to act onto affect (often used in 起作用 or 作用于)

Examples

  • 作用？
    Zhè zhǒng xīn yào yǒu shén me zuò yòng?
    What effect does this new medicine have?
  • 作用。
    Jiào yù duì shè huì de fā zhǎn yǒu zhòng yào zuò yòng.
    Education has an important effect on the development of society.
  • 作用。
    Zhè ge jué dìng chǎn shēng le jī jí de zuò yòng.
    This decision produced a positive effect.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

作zuòact; do
用yòngfunction; use

作 means to act or do, and 用 means function or use, together the function produced by action.

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.

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 →

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

用 was formed by adding a handle to an earlier form.

Open 用 →
Appears in
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