无谓 (wú wèi) — pointless; senseless; meaningless

Definition

A formal, written word for 'pointless, meaningless' — actions or sacrifices that serve no real purpose. Stronger and more literary than everyday words like 没用.

adjective

pointlesssenselessmeaningless

Examples

无谓。
Bú yào wèi zhè xiē wú wèi de xiǎo shì zhēng chǎo.
Don't argue over these pointless little things.
无谓。
Zhè zhǒng wú wèi de xī shēng bù zhí dé.
This kind of senseless sacrifice is not worth it.
无谓。
Tā zuò le yí jiàn wú wèi de shì.
He did a meaningless thing.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

无wúwithout

谓wèimeaning

无 means without and 谓 means meaning, so it is without meaning, pointless.

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 謂; 谓 is its simplified writing.

言胃謂

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 →