無為

简 无为 · 繁 無為
Mandarin · pinyin wú wéi#

Meanings · wú wéi

  1. the Daoist doctrine of inaction
  2. let things take their own course
  3. laissez-faire
Mandarin · pinyin Wú wéi#

Meanings · Wú wéi

  1. see 無為市 Wú wéi Shì
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Characters in this entry

無
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為
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无
wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71
为
wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–2 · wu2 wei2

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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 · 3 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

verb

  1. (Taoism) to take no action; to let nature take its course; to adopt a laissez-faire approach
  2. to accomplish nothing; to not achieve anything

name

  1. (~市) Wuwei (a county-level city of Wuhu, Anhui, China)

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

無為 · wu2 wei2 · Wu2 wei2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source lines 70,036, 70,035
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source records無為 无为 [wu2 wei2] /the Daoist doctrine of inaction/let things take their own course/laissez-faire/無為 无为 [Wu2 wei2] /see 無為市|无为市[Wu2 wei2 Shi4]/