私事 (sī shì) — personal matters; private affairs | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

'Personal matters' — concrete things you handle (family issues, errands), often contrasted with work. More specific than 隐私 (which is the abstract concept of privacy) and more event-like than 私人 (an adjective 'private').

noun

personal mattersprivate affairs

Examples

私事。
Shàng bān shí jiān bú yào chǔ lǐ sī shì.
Don't deal with personal matters during work hours.
私事，。
Jiā lǐ yǒu sī shì, wǒ jīn tiān dé zǎo diǎn huí qù.
I have personal matters at home, I have to go back earlier today.
私事。
Wǒ bù xiǎng zài gōng sī tán sī shì.
I don't want to talk about personal matters at the company.

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.

私sīprivate

私 denotes personal or private, and 事 denotes matters, so 私事 means private affairs.

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.

禾厶私

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

厶

厶sī私sī

Same sound today

私 combines 禾 and 厶; 厶 originally represented the word, and 禾 was added later.

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

又又yòuhand
中中zhōnga flagpole with a drum

In 事, 又 is a hand and 中 is a flagpole with a drum; holding a flag in hand depicts performing a job.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Abstract Concepts

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