Chinese

微不足道

/weɪ̯⁵⁵ pu⁵¹ t͡su³⁵ tɑʊ̯⁵¹/

not worth mentioning; insignificant; negligible

HSK 10

Etymology graph

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The character for 'beautiful' is composed of a large sheep, contrasting with the tiny, negligible scale of the phrase.

Origin

The phrase is formed with the character 微, meaning tiny, small, or trifling. This character contains the semantic component 攴, meaning to hit lightly or to tap, and the phonetic component 美, meaning beautiful, pretty, attractive, or good-looking. The character 美 is itself composed of 羊, a caprid such as a sheep, goat, or antelope, and 大, meaning of great size, big, large, or huge.

Other components include 不, meaning not, un-, in-, il-, im-, or ir-, and 足, meaning foot. The character 道, meaning a path or course along which something moves, flows, or extends, contains the semantic components 行, meaning to walk, and 止, meaning foot. The character 行 is composed of 彳, meaning to walk slowly, and 亍, meaning to stop or to stand still.

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

這個詞由四個漢字組成。「微」的意思是微小、瑣碎；「不」表示否定；「足」指腳；「道」則是指事物移動、流動或延伸的路徑或軌跡。

在字形結構上，「微」字包含表示「輕輕敲打」的語義成分「攴」，並以「美」作為音符。而「美」字是由「羊」與「大」組成。至於「道」字，則是由表示「行走」的語義成分「行」以及表示「腳」的語義成分「止」所構成。其中「行」字包含「行走緩慢」的成分「彳」與「停止」的成分「亍」。

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

characterChinese微 “tiny; small; trifling”
- soundChinese美 “beautiful; pretty; attractive; good-looking”
  - ideaChinese羊 “caprid (e.g. sheep, goat, antelope, etc.) (Classifier: 隻／只 m c)”
  - ideaChinese大 “of great size; big; large; huge”
- meaningChinese攴 “to hit lightly; to tap”
characterChinese不 “not; un-; in-; il-; im-; ir-”
characterChinese足 “foot”
characterChinese道 “a path or course along which something moves, flows or extends”
- meaningChinese行 “to walk”
  - componentChinese彳 “to walk slowly”
  - componentChinese亍 “to stop; to stand still”
- meaningChinese止 “foot”

Wiktionary etymology text

No etymology text yet. The graph shows what is known from the sources.

Sources

etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
Written form — n/a
Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0

Origin

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

這個詞由四個漢字組成。「微」的意思是微小、瑣碎；「不」表示否定；「足」指腳；「道」則是指事物移動、流動或延伸的路徑或軌跡。

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

characterChinese微 “tiny; small; trifling”
- soundChinese美 “beautiful; pretty; attractive; good-looking”
  - ideaChinese羊 “caprid (e.g. sheep, goat, antelope, etc.) (Classifier: 隻／只 m c)”
  - ideaChinese大 “of great size; big; large; huge”
- meaningChinese攴 “to hit lightly; to tap”
characterChinese不 “not; un-; in-; il-; im-; ir-”
characterChinese足 “foot”
characterChinese道 “a path or course along which something moves, flows or extends”
- meaningChinese行 “to walk”
  - componentChinese彳 “to walk slowly”
  - componentChinese亍 “to stop; to stand still”
- meaningChinese止 “foot”