益 (yì) — benefit, advantage (in compounds like 利益); beneficial, profitable (in compounds like 有益); increasingly, even more (in compounds like 日益)
Definition
益 (yì) is a bound, written-Chinese morpheme meaning 'benefit' or 'increasingly' — it almost never stands alone, only appearing inside compound words like 利益, 有益, and 日益.
bound form
benefitadvantage (in compounds like 利益)beneficialprofitable (in compounds like 有益)increasinglyeven more (in compounds like 日益)
Examples
- 。Duō hē shuǐ duì jiàn kāng yǒu yì.Drinking more water is beneficial to health.
- 。Měi gè rén dōu zài zhuī qiú zì jǐ de lì yì.Everyone is pursuing their own benefit.
- 。Zhōng guó de fā zhǎn rì yì fán róng.China's development is increasingly prosperous.
Origin
Compound ideograph六书liùshū
会意huìyìTwo or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.
- 水水shuǐwater
- 皿皿mǐnvessel
益 puts 水 (water) above 皿 (a vessel), originally showing water overflowing the vessel.
Appears in
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