TongTong
Sign in

无益 (wú yì) — unprofitable; useless

Definition

verb
unprofitableuseless

Examples

  • 无益。
    Zhè yàng zuò wú yì yú jiě jué wèn tí.
    Doing this is useless for solving the problem.
  • 无益。
    Zhēng chǎo duì shuāng fāng dōu wú yì.
    Arguing is unprofitable for both sides.
  • 无益。
    Nà zhǒng tóu zī wán quán wú yì.
    That kind of investment is completely unprofitable.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

无wúnot have
益yìbenefit

无, not having, applied to 益, benefit, gives 'useless'.

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 →

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

益 puts 水 (water) above 皿 (a vessel), originally showing water overflowing the vessel.

Open 益 →
Appears in
Good & Bad

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