无味 (wú wèi) — tasteless, dull, insipid

Definition

无味 covers two senses: literally 'tasteless' (food/flavor) and figuratively 'dull, uninteresting' (speeches, books). It is a more literary adjective than the everyday 难吃 (bad-tasting food).

adjective

tastelessdullinsipid

Examples

，无味。
Zhè dào cài yì diǎn r wèi dào dōu méi yǒu, zhēn shì wú wèi.
This dish has no flavor at all; it's really tasteless.
无味，。
Tā de yǎn jiǎng hěn wú wèi, dà jiā dōu kuài shuì zháo le.
His speech was very dull; everyone almost fell asleep.
无味，。
Zhè běn shū nèi róng wú wèi, wǒ kàn le jǐ yè jiù bù xiǎng kàn le.
The content of this book is insipid; I didn't want to read after a few pages.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

无wúlack

味wèitaste

无 (lack) and 味 (taste) combine to mean lacking flavor or interest.

Characters in this word

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.

口未味

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

未

未wèi味wèi

Same sound today

味 combines 口 (mouth) with 未, which gives the sound wèi; the mouth part relates to taste.

Open 味 →

Appears in