废物

• Pinyin: fèi wù
• Hanzi breakdown: 废 = 广 + 发 (abandoned structure — useless, discarded); 物 = 牛 + 勿 (ox + negation — originally 'unsorted cattle'; evolved to mean 'things/matter')

Meaning

Waste material; rubbish; useless person. Refers to discarded or unusable materials, or informally to a person considered incompetent or useless.

In formal/technical contexts: discarded material (工业废物 — industrial waste, 危险废物 — hazardous waste). In informal/colloquial contexts: a harsh insult for an incompetent person. Context is essential for interpretation.

Examples

1. 国际社会对危险废物的跨境转移实施了严格管控，相关国际公约明确禁止将有毒废物出口至缺乏相应处置能力的发展中国家。 The international community strictly regulates the cross-border transfer of hazardous waste, and relevant international conventions explicitly prohibit exporting toxic waste to developing countries that lack the capacity to handle it properly.
2. 循环经济理念的核心在于将一个生产环节产生的废物转化为另一个环节的原材料，从而在整个产业链层面实现资源的近零损耗。 At the heart of the circular economy is turning waste from one stage of production into raw materials for another, thereby achieving near-zero resource loss across the entire industrial chain.
3. 他在接受采访时坦言，年轻时曾被导师严厉斥责为'废物'，正是那次羞辱激发了他日后以数十年的深耕坚持向所有质疑者证明其判断的错误。 In an interview, he admitted that when he was young his adviser harshly scolded him as a “good-for-nothing,” and that humiliation was exactly what drove him to spend decades proving all his doubters wrong.

Usage Guide

Context: environment, industry, colloquial, interpersonal

Tone: negative

Do Say

• 发达国家向发展中国家输出电子废物的做法遭到强烈批评，因为这些废物含铅汞等重金属，严重威胁当地环境和健康。(The practice of developed countries exporting electronic waste to developing countries has drawn strong criticism because these wastes contain heavy metals such as lead and mercury, posing a serious threat to local environments and health.)
• 废物利用和资源再生技术的持续创新正在逐步改写传统的线性生产消费模式，推动全球制造业向更加闭合的物质循环体系转型。(Continuous innovation in waste utilisation and resource recovery technologies is gradually rewriting the traditional linear production-consumption model, driving global manufacturing to transition towards a more closed material circulation system.)

Don't Say

• 废物 to describe a person in professional or formal contexts — using 废物 to describe a person is a serious insult; in professional feedback, use 能力有限 (limited capability) or 有待提升 (needs improvement) instead

Origin & History

废 (useless; discarded) + 物 (thing; matter; object) — useless things — waste material

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal