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杂事 (zá shì) — miscellaneous affairs; trivial tasks; odd jobs

Definition

杂事 refers to the small, miscellaneous errands and odd jobs of daily life (banking, shopping, paperwork). It pairs naturally with verbs like 办 and 处理, and emphasizes routine trivial tasks rather than important matters.

noun
miscellaneous affairstrivial tasksodd jobs

Examples

  • 杂事，。
    Gōng sī lǐ de zá shì hěn duō, měi tiān dōu yào chǔ lǐ hǎo jǐ gè.
    There are many miscellaneous tasks in the company; I have to handle several every day.
  • 杂事，。
    Zhōu mò wǒ zǒng yǒu yì xiē zá shì yào bàn, bǐ rú qù yín háng hé chāo shì.
    On weekends I always have some errands to run, like going to the bank and the supermarket.
  • 杂事，。
    Zuò zhè xiē zá shì suī rán hěn xiǎo, dàn dōu shì bì yào de.
    Doing these miscellaneous tasks, though trivial, are all necessary.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

杂zámiscellaneous
事shìaffairs

杂 (miscellaneous) and 事 (affairs) combine to mean odd or trivial tasks.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 雜; 杂 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
衣衣yī
Sound part声符shēngfú
集
集jí雜zá
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 雜 pairs 衣 (clothes) with 集 as a sound part, originally referring to mixed colours, perhaps in dyed clothes; the simplified 杂 is a later shorthand.

Open 杂 →

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
Daily Routine

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