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大无畏 (dà wú wèi) — utterly fearless; dauntless

Definition

A literary, emphatic 'fearless' — the 大 prefix intensifies 无畏, used in formal writing about heroic spirit.

adjective
utterly fearlessdauntless

Examples

  • 大无畏。
    Tā nà zhǒng dà wú wèi de jīng shén shēn shēn gǎn rǎn le suǒ yǒu rén.
    His utterly fearless spirit deeply moved everyone.
  • ，大无畏。
    Miàn duì wèi zhī de wēi xiǎn, tā men zhǎn xiàn chū dà wú wèi de qì gài.
    Facing unknown dangers, they displayed a dauntless mettle.
  • 大无畏，。
    Zhǐ yǒu bǎo chí dà wú wèi de tài dù, cái néng tū pò kùn jìng.
    Only by maintaining a fearless attitude can one break through difficulties.

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.

大dàgreat
无畏without fear
无wúwithout畏wèifear
动宾Verb + object

大 adds great extent to 无畏, where 无 means without and 畏 is fear, giving utterly fearless.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 無; 无 is its simplified writing.

For the simplified 无, the story is about 無. 無 drew a person dancing with ox tails held in both hands to pray for rain, then was borrowed for 'have no', so the picture does not explain that meaning.

Open 无 →

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
卜卜bǔ
Sound part声符shēngfú
鬼
鬼guǐ畏wèi
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

An early form of 畏 drew a ghost 鬼 holding a stick. Later, 卜 was used as the meaning part and 鬼 as the sound part.

Open 畏 →
Appears in
Idioms & Set PhrasesPersonality & Traits

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