DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

有事

Mandarin · pinyin yǒu shì

to be occupied with sth
to have sth on one's mind
there is something the matter

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Characters in this entry

有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
事: shì · affair, matter, business; to serve; accident, incident

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–4 · you3 shi4

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 4 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jau5 si6

Cantonese word readings for 有事. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

verb

to have a matter to attend to; to have something to do; to be busy
to have something on one's mind; to have something the matter
(of a problem or emergency) to arise; to happen
to have a job; to be employed

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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