無用

See also: 无用

Chinese

		not have	to use
trad. (無用)		無	用
simp. (无用)		无	用

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): wúyòng

  (Zhuyin): ㄨˊ ㄩㄥˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): mou⁴ jung⁶
• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): mò-yung

  (Meixian, Guangdong): mo² ngiung⁴

• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): bû-iōng / bô-iōng / bô-ēng

  (Teochew, Peng'im): bho⁵ êng⁷

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: wúyòng
    • Zhuyin: ㄨˊ ㄩㄥˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: wúyòng
    • Wade–Giles: wu²-yung⁴
    • Yale: wú-yùng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: wuyonq
    • Palladius: уюн (ujun)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /u³⁵ jʊŋ⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: mou⁴ jung⁶
    • Yale: mòuh yuhng
    • Cantonese Pinyin: mou⁴ jung⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: mou⁴ yung⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mou̯²¹ jʊŋ²²/
• Hakka
  • (Northern Sixian, incl. Miaoli)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: mò-yung
    • Hakka Romanization System: mo^ˇ iung
    • Hagfa Pinyim: mo² yung⁴
    • Sinological IPA: /mo¹¹ i̯uŋ⁵⁵/
  • (Southern Sixian, incl. Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: mò-yung
    • Hakka Romanization System: mo^ˇ (r)iung
    • Hagfa Pinyim: mo² yung⁴
    • Sinological IPA: /mo¹¹ (j)i̯uŋ⁵⁵/
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: mo² ngiung⁴
    • Sinological IPA: /mo¹¹ ŋiʊŋ⁵³/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bû-iōng
    • Tâi-lô: bû-iōng
    • Phofsit Daibuun: bu'iong
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /bu²⁴⁻²² iɔŋ⁴¹/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /bu¹³⁻²² iɔŋ²²/
    • IPA (Xiamen): /bu²⁴⁻²² iɔŋ²²/
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bô-iōng
    • Tâi-lô: bô-iōng
    • Phofsit Daibuun: boi'iong
    • IPA (Taipei): /bo²⁴⁻¹¹ iɔŋ³³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /bɤ²³⁻³³ iɔŋ³³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /bo¹³⁻²² iɔŋ²²/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bô-ēng
    • Tâi-lô: bô-īng
    • Phofsit Daibuun: boi'eng
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /bo²⁴⁻²² iɪŋ⁴¹/
    • IPA (Xiamen): /bo²⁴⁻²² iɪŋ²²/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: bho⁵ êng⁷
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: bô ēng
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /bo⁵⁵⁻¹¹ eŋ¹¹/

---

• Middle Chinese: mju yowngH

Rime
Character	無	用
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	明 (4)	以 (36)
Final (韻)	虞 (24)	鍾 (7)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Closed	Open
Division (等)	III	III
Fanqie	武夫切	余頌切
Baxter	mju	yowngH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/mɨo/	/jɨoŋH/
Pan Wuyun	/mio/	/jioŋH/
Shao Rongfen	/mio/	/ioŋH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/muə̆/	/juawŋH/
Li Rong	/mio/	/ioŋH/
Wang Li	/mĭu/	/jĭwoŋH/
Bernhard Karlgren	/mi̯u/	/i̯woŋH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	wú	yòng
Expected Cantonese Reflex	mou4	jung6

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*ma|mo  loŋ-s/

  (Zhengzhang): /*ma  loŋs/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	無	無	無	用
Reading #	1/3	2/3	3/3	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	wú	wú	wú	yòng
Middle Chinese	‹ mju ›	‹ mju ›	‹ mju ›	‹ yowngH ›
Old Chinese	/*ma/	/*ma/	/*mo/	/*loŋ-s/
English	not have	volitional prefix	don’t	use (v.)
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	無	用
Reading #	1/1	1/1
No.	13117	15460
Phonetic component	無	用
Rime group	魚	東
Rime subdivision	0	0
Corresponding MC rime	無	用
Old Chinese	/*ma/	/*loŋs/

Verb

無用

1. to be useless; to be of no use; to be a waste of time

   有人認為讀書無用。 [MSC, trad.]
   有人认为读书无用。 [MSC, simp.]

   Yǒurén rènwéi dúshū wúyòng. [Pinyin]

   Some believe reading is a waste of time.

Synonyms

edit

• 冇用 (mou⁵ jung⁶) (Cantonese)
• 沒卵用 / 没卵用 (méiluǎnyòng) (neologism, slang)
• 沒用 / 没用 (méiyòng)
• 無事使 / 无事使 (Hokkien, Teochew)
• 無擋用 / 无挡用 (Hokkien)
• 無路使 / 无路使 (Hokkien, Teochew)
• 無路使用 / 无路使用 (Hokkien, Teochew)
• 無路用 / 无路用 (Puxian Min, Hokkien, Teochew)

Antonyms

edit

• 好派用場 / 好派用场 (Wu)
• 好用 (⁵hau-yon) (Wu)
• 有用 (yǒuyòng)
• 有用場 / 有用场 (⁶yeu ⁶yon-zan) (Wu)
• 有路用 (Hokkien)

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (無用):

• → Japanese: 無(む)用(よう) (muyō)
• → Korean: 무용(無用) (muyong)
• → Vietnamese: vô dụng (無用)

Adverb

無用

1. (Hainanese) need not
2. (Hainanese) don't

Synonyms

• (need not):

Dialectal synonyms of 不用 (“need not”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		不必, 無須, 毋庸
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		不必, 毋須, 無須, 無須乎, 不待
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	甭, 不用, 甭用
	Taiwan	不用
	Shenyang	甭
	Malaysia	不用
	Singapore	不用, 不必
Jilu Mandarin	Jinan	甭
Central Plains Mandarin	Xi'an	不用
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	不消
	Wuhan	不消, 用不著
	Kunming	不用
Jianghuai Mandarin	Yangzhou	用不著
	Hefei	不用
Cantonese	Guangzhou	唔使
	Hong Kong	唔使
	Macau	唔使
	Taishan	唔使, 冇使
	Dongguan	唔使
	Yangjiang	無使, 使乜
	Hepu (Lianzhou)	冇使
	Hepu (Shatian)	冇使
	Beihai	冇使
	Beihai (Nankang)	冇使
	Beihai (Yingpan)	冇使
	Beihai (Qiaogang - Cô Tô)	冇使
	Beihai (Qiaogang - Cát Bà)	冇使
	Fangchenggang (Fangcheng)	冇使
	Singapore (Guangfu)	唔使
	Ho Chi Minh City (Guangfu)	唔使
Gan	Nanchang	不消, 用不著
Hakka	Meixian	唔使
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	唔使
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	唔使
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	唔使
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	唔使
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	唔使
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	唔使
	Kuching (Hepo)	唔使
Jin	Taiyuan	不用
Northern Min	Jian'ou	伓讓
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	伓使
	Matsu	伓使
	Singapore (Fuqing)	伓使
Southern Min	Xiamen	毋免, 免, 毋使
	Quanzhou	毋免, 免
	Zhangzhou	毋免, 免, 毋使
	Taipei	毋免, 免
	Kaohsiung	毋免, 免
	Penang (Hokkien)	毋免, 免
	Singapore (Hokkien)	毋免, 免
	Manila (Hokkien)	毋免, 免
	Chaozhou	免, 免用
	Shantou	免, 免用
	Shantou (Chenghai)	免
	Shantou (Chaoyang)	免
	Jieyang	免, 免用
	Singapore (Teochew)	免
	Pontianak (Teochew)	免
	Wenchang	無用
	Singapore (Hainanese)	無用
Zhongshan Min	Zhongshan (Longdu, Shaxi)	唔使
Wu	Shanghai	勿要, 覅, 用勿著, 勿用, 好勿要, 好覅
	Suzhou	用勿著
	Ningbo	甮, 好甮
	Wenzhou	覅用, 否用
Xiang	Changsha	不消
	Shuangfeng	不消, 不要

• (don't):

Dialectal synonyms of 別 (“do not”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		勿, 莫1, 毋, 無
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		別, 不要, 勿, 別要 chiefly Hong Kong
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	別, 別價
	Taiwan	別, 不要
	Harbin	別
	Malaysia	不要
	Singapore	不要
Jilu Mandarin	Jinan	別, 別價, 甭價, 不要
Jiaoliao Mandarin	Yantai (Muping)	別
Central Plains Mandarin	Luoyang	嫑, 甭1, 休
	Wanrong	嫑, 不要
	Xi'an	嫑, 不敢
	Xining	嫑
	Xuzhou	嫑, 休
Lanyin Mandarin	Lanzhou	不要
	Ürümqi	嫑
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	莫1, 不要, 嫑
	Wuhan	莫1, 不
	Guiyang	不要
	Guilin	莫1, 不要
	Liuzhou	莫1, 莫要
	Xiangtan (Jiangnan Industries Group koine)	莫1
Jianghuai Mandarin	Nanjing	不要
	Yangzhou	莫1, 不要
	Hefei	別, 不要
Cantonese	Guangzhou	咪, 咪個, 唔好
	Hong Kong	咪, 唔好, 冇, 咪個 dated
	Hong Kong (San Tin; Weitou)	唔好
	Macau	唔要
	Foshan (Shunde)	咪
	Zhongshan (Shiqi)	咪
	Zhuhai (Doumen)	唔好
	Taishan	唔好
	Kaiping (Chikan)	唔好
	Dongguan	咪, 唔好
	Shaoguan	咪
	Yunfu	咪, 唔好
	Yangjiang	莫1, 無好
	Xinyi	毛
	Lianjiang	冇
	Nanning	冇要
	Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)	咪
	Singapore (Guangfu)	咪, 唔好
Gan	Nanchang	莫1
	Lichuan	毋要, 不要
	Pingxiang	不要
Hakka	Meixian	莫1, 毋愛, 毋好
	Xingning	毋愛
	Huidong (Daling)	毋好
	Shaoguan (Qujiang)	毋好
	Lianshan (Xiaosanjiang)	毋好
	Changting	毋要
	Liancheng	毋要
	Ninghua	毋要
	Yudu	毋要, 毋敢
	Ruijin	毋要
	Shicheng	毋要
	Shangyou (Shexi)	毋要
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	莫1, 毋好
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	莫1, 毋好
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	莫1, 毋好
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	莫1, 毋好
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	莫1, 毋好
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	莫2, 毋好
	Hong Kong	毋好
	Sabah (Longchuan)	毋愛
	Senai (Huiyang)	毋好
	Kuching (Hepo)	唔愛
Huizhou	Jixi	不要, 嫑
	Shexian	不要, 嫑
	Huangshan (Tunxi)	不要, 嫑
Jin	Taiyuan	不要, 不敢
	Xinzhou	不要, 嫑, 播
Northern Min	Jian'ou	伓敢, 伓讓, 毋
	Pucheng (Shibei)	伓敢
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	伓通, 毋
	Fuqing	伓通
	Matsu	毋
Southern Min	Xiamen	毋通, 毋愛, 莫2, 𱰠, 莫用, 汰
	Quanzhou	毋通, 毋愛, 甭2, 莫用, 汰
	Zhangzhou	毋通, 莫2, 甭2, 𱰠, 莫用, 汰
	Zhao'an	孬
	Taipei	莫2
	New Taipei (Sanxia)	莫去
	Kaohsiung	莫2
	Yilan	毋通, 莫2
	Changhua (Lukang)	莫2
	Tainan	莫2, 甭2
	Penang (Hokkien)	莫2, 毋通, 甭2
	Singapore (Hokkien)	莫2, 毋通, 甭2
	Manila (Hokkien)	毋通, 甭2
	Pingnan (Shangdu)	別
	Chaozhou	孬, 莫2
	Shantou	孬, 莫2
	Shantou (Chaoyang)	莫2
	Jieyang	孬, 莫2
	Haifeng	莫2
	Ho Chi Minh City (Teochew)	孬
	Johor Bahru (Teochew)	孬
	Penang (Teochew)	莫2
	Singapore (Teochew)	莫2, 孬
	Leizhou	無地
	Haikou	無用, 莫2, 無莫
	Qionghai	無用
	Singapore (Hainanese)	無用
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	冇要
Wu	Shanghai	勿要, 𧟰
	Shanghai (Chongming)	拗
	Suzhou	𧟰
	Wuxi	𧟰
	Nantong (Haimen)	拗, 拗要, 弗要
	Danyang	弗要, 𫸻
	Hangzhou	嫑
	Hangzhou (Yuhang)	弗要, 消, 𧟰
	Ningbo	莫, 甮
	Wenzhou	𧟰
	Lishui	⿰毋樂
	Qingyuan	⿰否樂
	Jinhua	𫸻, 弗要, 弗用
Xiang	Changsha	莫1, 不要
	Loudi	不要, 莫1
	Shuangfeng	莫1
	Quanzhou	別

Japanese

Kanji in this term
無	用
む Grade: 4	よう Grade: 2
on'yomi

Etymology

無 (“non-”) +‎ 用 (“use”)

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) むよー [mùyóó] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [mɯ̟jo̞ː]

Adjective

無(む)用(よう) • (muyō) -na (adnominal 無(む)用(よう)な (muyō na), adverbial 無(む)用(よう)に (muyō ni))

1. useless
2. unnecessary; needless
3. forbidden, no (...ing)

Inflection

Inflection of 無用

Stem forms
Imperfective (未然形)	無用だろ	むようだろ	muyō daro
Continuative (連用形)	無用で	むようで	muyō de
Terminal (終止形)	無用だ	むようだ	muyō da
Attributive (連体形)	無用な	むような	muyō na
Hypothetical (仮定形)	無用なら	むようなら	muyō nara
Imperative (命令形)	無用であれ	むようであれ	muyō de are
Key constructions
Informal negative	無用ではない 無用じゃない	むようではない むようじゃない	muyō de wa nai muyō ja nai
Informal past	無用だった	むようだった	muyō datta
Informal negative past	無用ではなかった 無用じゃなかった	むようではなかった むようじゃなかった	muyō de wa nakatta muyō ja nakatta
Formal	無用です	むようです	muyō desu
Formal negative	無用ではありません 無用じゃありません	むようではありません むようじゃありません	muyō de wa arimasen muyō ja arimasen
Formal past	無用でした	むようでした	muyō deshita
Formal negative past	無用ではありませんでした 無用じゃありませんでした	むようではありませんでした むようじゃありませんでした	muyō de wa arimasen deshita muyō ja arimasen deshita
Conjunctive	無用で	むようで	muyō de
Conditional	無用なら（ば）	むようなら（ば）	muyō nara (ba)
Provisional	無用だったら	むようだったら	muyō dattara
Volitional	無用だろう	むようだろう	muyō darō
Adverbial	無用に	むように	muyō ni
Degree	無用さ	むようさ	muyōsa

Antonyms

• 有用(ゆうよう) (yūyō, “useful”)

Noun

無(む)用(よう) • (muyō) 

1. uselessness
2. needlessness
3. forbiddenness; being forbidden

Derived terms

• 問答無用(もんどうむよう) (mondōmuyō)

References

• “無用”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎ (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2025
• 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.

Korean

Hanja in this term
無	用

Noun

無用 • (muyong) (hangeul 무용)

1. hanja form^? of 무용 (“uselessness”)

Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term
無	用

Adjective

無用

1. chữ Hán form of vô dụng (“useless”)