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营业 (yíng yè) — to be open for business; to conduct business operations

Definition

营业 focuses on whether a shop or business is open and serving customers. Compare 经营 (running/managing the business) and 开业 (the one-time event of opening).

verb
to be open for businessto conduct business operations

Examples

  • 营业。
    Zhè jiā chāo shì cóng zǎo shàng bā diǎn yíng yè dào wǎn shàng shí diǎn.
    This supermarket is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
  • 营业，。
    Zhōu mò zhè jiā yín háng bù yíng yè, bié bái pǎo yí tàng.
    This bank is not open on weekends — don't make a wasted trip.
  • 营业，。
    Wǒ men cān tīng chūn jié qī jiān zhèng cháng yíng yè, huān yíng guāng lín.
    Our restaurant is open as usual during Spring Festival — welcome.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

营yíngmanage
业yèbusiness

Managing a business gives the sense of being open for trade.

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 營; 营 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
宮宮gōngpalace
Sound part声符shēngfú
熒
熒yíng營yíng
Same sound today

The traditional form 營 pairs 宮 (palace) with 熒 as a sound part, depicting a person working all night with a light on his house; the simplified 营 is a later abbreviation.

Open 营 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 業; 业 is its simplified writing.

  • 丵丵zhuóchisel
  • 大大dàperson; big

The traditional 業 is explained as a picture of a beam from which bells and chimes hang, or as a person lifting that beam. The simplified 业 is a shorthand, not the original shape.

Open 业 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5HSK 2.0 Level 5Business & Commerce

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