(sǔn shī) - loss, damage; to lose, to suffer a loss in Mandarin
sǔnshīTraditional: 損失
Translation
loss, damage; to lose, to suffer a loss
Word origin
A compound of 损 (sǔn, to damage, to reduce, with the hand radical 扌 and 员 as phonetic) and 失 (shī, to lose), so what is destroyed and gone.
- Origin
- compound
- Root
- 损 (sǔn, to damage) + 失 (shī, to lose)
Stroke order
损
失
Examples
。
The fire caused enormous damage.
。
The company lost a fair amount of money this year.
减。
We must keep the losses to a minimum.
。
His departure is a loss for the team.
赔。
The insurance company paid for part of the loss.
损失 (sǔn shī) is loss in the sense of harm done: money burnt, stock ruined, lives gone, a good player leaving the team. It works as a noun (造成损失, 减少损失) and as a verb (损失了三百万), and it is the standard word in business, insurance and news writing.
The scale is usually serious. A pound dropped down the back of the sofa is not 损失; a warehouse fire is. That weight is what makes it useful in the figurative sense too, as in 对球队是个损失, where nothing was destroyed but something valuable has gone.
Two things to watch. 损失 is not the verb for mislaying an object: your keys are 丢了, not 损失了. And it is not the verb for losing a match either, which is 输. Keep 损失 for damage suffered and 丢 and 输 for the everyday kinds of losing.
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损失: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "损失" (loss, damage; to lose, to suffer a loss): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 48.