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无损 (wú sǔn) — to not harm, to cause no damage; to be intact, to remain whole/unharmed

Definition

Used in technical or formal contexts to mean 'lossless' (as in audio/data quality) or 'without damage'. Less common than the everyday 有害/无害 pair for general 'harmful/harmless' talk.

verb
to not harmto cause no damageto be intactto remain whole/unharmed

Examples

  • 。
    Tā de huà duì wǒ bù wú sǔn.
    His words do no harm to me.
  • ，无损。
    Jīng guò cháng shí jiān de bǎo cún, zhè běn shū zhì jīn wú sǔn.
    After long-term storage, this book remains intact.
  • 无损。
    Wǒ men zhuī qiú wú sǔn de yīn yuè pǐn zhì.
    We pursue lossless music quality.

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
损sǔndamage

无 conveys lack and 损 conveys damage, giving a sense of not having damage.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 損; 损 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
手手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
員
員yuán損sǔn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 損 pairs 手 (hand) with 員 as a sound part; the simplified 损 is a later shorthand, so its visible parts are not the original components.

Open 损 →
Appears in
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