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得失 (dé shī) — gains and losses; success and failure; merits and demerits

Definition

得失 is a formal, often philosophical pair — the 'gains and losses' of a course of action or of life itself. 长短 covers a wider, more everyday 'pros and cons / merits and faults'; 利弊 is the neutral, practical 'pros and cons' used in deliberation.

noun
gains and lossessuccess and failuremerits and demerits

Examples

  • 得失。
    Rén shēng de dé shī hěn nán héng liáng.
    The gains and losses of life are hard to measure.
  • 得失。
    Zuò jué dìng shí yào kǎo lǜ dé shī.
    When making decisions, you must consider the pros and cons.
  • 得失。
    Tā cóng bú jì jiào gè rén dé shī.
    He never cares about personal gains and losses.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

得dégain
失shīloss

"得" and "失" together name what one gains and what one loses.

Characters in this word

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

The old form 㝵 showed a hand picking up a cowry, meaning to obtain; later changes turned that picture into 得.

Open 得 →

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

The shape is explained as a fallen person's footprint surrounded by drops of blood; another reading pairs 手 (hand) and 乙 to show something falling from a hand.

Open 失 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Success & Failure

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