事务

• Pinyin: shì wù
• Hanzi breakdown: 事 = 口 + 彐 + 亅 (affair, matter); 务 = 矛 + 攴 simplified (duty, task, be engaged in)

Meaning

Affairs; business; matters. Official, administrative, or professional work and responsibilities that need to be dealt with.

A broad formal term for duties, tasks, and operations, especially in institutional or professional contexts. Common compounds: 日常事务 (routine affairs), 行政事务 (administrative affairs), 外交事务 (diplomatic affairs), 内部事务 (internal affairs), 公共事务 (public affairs). Contrast: 事情 (matters, affairs — more colloquial), 业务 (business operations, professional work in a specific field).

Examples

1. 随着公司规模扩大，日常行政事务大幅增加，管理层决定专门设立一个运营支持部门，负责处理非核心业务的各类内部事务。 As the company expanded, day-to-day administrative work increased sharply, so management decided to set up a dedicated operations support department to handle various internal matters unrelated to core business.
2. 外交事务部长在国会作证时详细阐述了政府对该地区局势的基本立场，并就下一步外交行动计划回答了议员的质询。 While testifying before Congress, the foreign affairs minister laid out the government’s basic position on the situation in the region and answered lawmakers’ questions about the next steps in its diplomatic plan.
3. 律师事务所的高级合伙人每天需要处理大量客户咨询、合同审核和诉讼准备等专业事务，工作强度远超外界想象。 A senior partner at a law firm has to handle a large volume of professional matters every day—client consultations, contract reviews, and litigation preparation—at a pace far more intense than outsiders imagine.

Usage Guide

Context: administration, law, diplomacy, business, governance

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 新任市长上任后首先着手梳理市政事务的处理流程，发现其中存在大量审批环节繁琐、权责边界模糊的问题，随即启动了简政放权的行政改革。(After taking office, the new mayor first set about sorting out the handling procedures for municipal affairs, finding numerous problems of cumbersome approval steps and blurred boundaries of authority and responsibility, and immediately launched administrative reforms to streamline government and delegate power.)
• 作为公共事务管理专业的学生，必须深入理解政府治理的运作逻辑，掌握政策分析工具，并具备在复杂利益格局下协调各方诉求的实践能力。(As students of public affairs management, you must deeply understand the operational logic of government governance, master policy analysis tools, and develop the practical ability to coordinate the demands of various parties in a complex landscape of competing interests.)

Don't Say

• 事务 as a colloquial substitute for 事情 (things, matters) in casual speech — 事务 carries a formal, institutional weight inappropriate for everyday conversation; say 有些事情要处理 (I have some things to deal with) rather than 有些事务要处理 in informal contexts

Origin & History

事 (matter, affair) + 务 (duty, task, business) — 'the duties and matters one must attend to'

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal