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无所事事 (wú suǒ shì shì) — to have nothing to do; to be idle; to loaf around

Definition

A four-character idiom meaning 'to idle, loaf around' — focuses on passing time without doing anything. Lighter than 一事无成 (which means achieving nothing in life); 晃荡 is the casual verb form.

phrase
to have nothing to doto be idleto loaf around

Examples

  • 无所事事，。
    Tā zhěng tiān wú suǒ shì shì, lián jiā wù yě bú zuò.
    He loafs around all day and doesn't even do housework.
  • ，无所事事。
    Fàng jià yǐ hòu, wǒ wú suǒ shì shì dì guò le liǎng gè xīng qī.
    After the holiday started, I idled away two weeks doing nothing.
  • 无所事事，。
    Tā bù xiǎng wú suǒ shì shì, yú shì bào míng cān jiā le zhì yuàn zhě huó dòng.
    He didn't want to be idle, so he signed up for volunteer activities.

Origin

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
斤斤jīnaxe
Sound part声符shēngfú
戶
戶hù所suǒ
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

所 pairs 斤, an axe, with 戶, which gives the sound hù; the old meaning was the sound of logging.

Open 所 →

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

In 事, 又 is a hand and 中 is a flagpole with a drum; holding a flag in hand depicts performing a job.

Open 事 →

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

In 事, 又 is a hand and 中 is a flagpole with a drum; holding a flag in hand depicts performing a job.

Open 事 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Idioms & Set Phrases

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.