蔑视 (miè shì) — to despise, to look down upon | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

蔑视 is a strong, written/literary verb for despising someone or something as beneath you — more intense than 轻视 and more formal than 看不起.

verb

to despiseto look down upon

Examples

蔑视，。
Tā cóng bú miè shì rèn hé rén, zǒng shì hěn zūn zhòng bié rén.
He never despises anyone; he always respects others.
蔑视。
Zhè zhǒng miè shì tā rén de xíng wéi shì fēi cháng bù lǐ mào de.
This kind of behavior of despising others is very rude.
蔑视。
Wǒ men bù néng yīn wèi yí gè rén de chū shēn ér miè shì tā.
We should not despise someone because of their background.

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.

蔑miècontempt

蔑 (contempt) shapes 视 (look), so the meaning is to look down on.

Characters in this word

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

𦰋𦰋𦰋person
戈戈gēdagger-axe

蔑 combines 𦰋, a person, with 戈, a dagger-axe, to picture a weapon striking a person's lower leg, meaning to obliterate.

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 視; 视 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

見見jiànsee

Sound part声符shēngfú

示

示shì視shì

Same sound today

The story is about the traditional form 視: it combines 見, meaning see, with 示, which gives the sound shì.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 HSK 2.0 Level 6 Emotions & Feelings

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