厌世 (yàn shì) — to be world-weary; to be disillusioned with life; misanthropy

Definition

厌世 (yàn shì) means a deep weariness or disillusionment with life — a literary, philosophical state, not casual sadness. Pairs with nouns like 情绪 ('mood') and is the term used to discuss 哲学家 and 文学 themes.

verb
to be world-wearyto be disillusioned with lifemisanthropy

Examples

  • ，。
    Tā zài jīng lì le zhū duō cuò zhé hòu, chè dǐ yàn le shì.
    He became completely disillusioned with the world after experiencing many setbacks.
  • 厌世。
    Tā xiě de zuò pǐn chōng mǎn le yàn shì qíng xù.
    The works he writes are filled with a world-weary mood.
  • 厌世。
    yàn shì Shì xǔ duō zhé xué jiā tàn tǎo de huà tí.
    World-weariness is a topic explored by many philosophers.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

厌yànweary of
世shìworld

厌 expresses weariness or dislike, and 世 names the world, so the word means being weary of the world.

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 厭; 厌 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
厂厂chǎng
Sound part声符shēngfú
猒
猒yàn厭yàn
Same sound today

The traditional form 厭 combines 厂 as the meaning part with 猒 as the sound part; the simplified 厌 is a later abbreviation.

Open 厌 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 世 →

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