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善变 (shàn biàn) — changeable; capricious (of a person, mood, weather, situation, etc.)

Definition

Describes a person, mood, or weather that shifts often and unpredictably. Carries a negative judgment of being fickle or unreliable, unlike 多变 which is a more neutral description of variety.

adjective
changeablecapricious (of a person, mood, weather, situation, etc.)

Examples

  • 善变，，。
    Tā zhè ge rén hěn shàn biàn, yǒu shí hou rè qíng, yǒu shí hou lěng mò.
    She is a very changeable person, sometimes warm, sometimes cold.
  • 善变，，。
    Zuì jìn de tiān qì hěn shàn biàn, yí huì r qíng tiān, yí huì r xià yǔ.
    The weather recently has been very changeable — sunny one moment, rainy the next.
  • 善变，。
    Tā duì zhè jiàn shì de tài dù tài shàn biàn le, ràng rén nán yǐ zhuō mō.
    His attitude toward this matter is too changeable, making it hard to pin down.

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.

善shàngood at
变biànchange

善 means good at and 变 means change, so the result is prone to change.

Characters in this word

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

An earlier form of 善 joined 羊, a sheep linked with goodness or beauty, and 誩, described as a wrangle; the reference says this meaning link is hard to understand.

Open 善 →

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 →
Appears in
Personality & Traits

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