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有事 (yǒu shì) — to have something come up; if problems arise; to be busy; occupied

Definition

A polite way to say you're busy or that something has come up. Often used as a soft excuse for declining (e.g. 今天有事), contrasted with the general state of being occupied.

verb
to have something come upif problems ariseto be busyoccupied

Examples

  • 有事。
    Wǒ yǒu shì gēn nǐ shāng liang.
    I have something to discuss with you.
  • 有事，。
    Jīn tiān wǒ hěn yǒu shì, bù néng qù wán.
    I'm very occupied today and can't go out to have fun.
  • 有事？
    Nǐ zhǎo wǒ yǒu shén me yǒu shì ma?
    Do you have some issue when looking for me?

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

有yǒuhave
事shìmatter

有 conveys having, 事 conveys a matter, giving the sense of something to attend to.

Characters in this word

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
肉肉ròumeat
Sound part声符shēngfú
又
又yòu有yǒu
Same sound today

The form 有 combines 又, used for its sound, with a shape from 肉, 'meat'; the hand-holding-meat story is a folk explanation, not shown in the oldest shape.

Open 有 →

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
Abstract Concepts

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