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无所谓 (wú suǒ wèi) — to be indifferent; not to care; to not matter; to make no difference

Definition

无所谓 means 'not to care / it doesn't matter' — you accept whatever happens without a preference or strong feeling. Negated as 并不是无所谓的 when the speaker actually does care.

verb
to be indifferentnot to careto not matterto make no difference

Examples

  • 无所谓，。
    Nǐ xuǎn nǎ ge dōu wú suǒ wèi, wǒ dōu kě yǐ.
    Whichever one you choose, it doesn't matter to me—I'm fine with either.
  • 无所谓。
    Tā duì bié rén zěn me píng jià tā wán quán wú suǒ wèi.
    He is completely indifferent to how others evaluate him.
  • 无所谓。
    Zhè zhǒng shì qing zǎo dào huò wǎn dào dōu wú suǒ wèi.
    For this kind of thing, arriving early or late makes no difference.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

无wúno/without
所谓what is called
所suǒthat which谓wèisay
前缀Prefix

The sense comes from 无 (no/without) plus 所谓 (what is called), giving nothing to be called, hence indifferent.

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 →

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 謂; 谓 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yán
Sound part声符shēngfú
胃
胃wèi謂wèi
Same sound today

The traditional form 謂 pairs 言, which marks speech, with 胃 as a sound component; the simplified 谓 is a later abbreviation.

Open 谓 →
Appears in
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