耐性

• Pinyin: nài xìng
• Hanzi breakdown: 耐 = 而 + 寸 — to endure through measured restraint; 性 = 忄(heart) + 生(life) — one's innate disposition or nature

Meaning

Patience; the capacity to endure delay, difficulty, or provocation without losing composure.

Refers to a person's ability to wait calmly and persist despite adversity or provocation. Often associated with educational success, craftsmanship, and interpersonal relationships. Closely related to 耐心, but 耐性 emphasises patience as an innate or cultivated quality rather than a momentary state.

Examples

1. 教育工作者需要极强的耐性，因为每个孩子的学习节奏和理解方式都各有不同。 Educators need tremendous patience, because every child learns at a different pace and understands things in different ways.
2. 精密仪器的手工制作需要工匠投入数年时间磨练技艺，没有足够的耐性根本坚持不下来。 Handcrafting precision instruments takes artisans years of practice; without enough patience, you simply can’t stick with it.
3. 面对反复刁难的谈判对手，他始终保持着惊人的耐性，从不轻易表露自己内心的焦虑与不满。 Facing a negotiating counterpart who kept nitpicking, he showed astonishing patience and never easily revealed his anxiety or frustration.

Usage Guide

Context: education, craftsmanship, personal development, professional contexts

Tone: appreciative/neutral

Do Say

• 外科手术要求医生具备极高的耐性与技术精度，任何一点疏忽都可能给患者带来不可逆转的伤害。(Surgical procedures require doctors to have extraordinary patience and technical precision; even the slightest negligence could cause irreversible harm to the patient.)
• 学一门新语言是一个长期的积累过程，需要学习者拥有足够的耐性去面对初期学习阶段的种种困难与挫败。(Learning a new language is a long process of accumulation; learners need sufficient patience to face the many difficulties and setbacks of the early learning phase.)

Don't Say

• 把'耐性'与'耐心'完全混用，忽略其细微差别 (耐心 refers to the momentary state of being patient in a situation; 耐性 emphasises patience as an enduring personal quality — they are often interchangeable, but 耐性 has a stronger sense of a cultivated capacity)

Origin & History

耐(to endure) + 性(nature/quality). Together meaning 'the natural quality of endurance' — patience as an innate or developed trait of character

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal