失效

• Pinyin: shī xiào
• Hanzi breakdown: 失 = 手 + 乙 (to lose, to let slip); 效 = 交 + 攴 (effect, efficacy, to produce results)

Meaning

To become invalid; to cease to function or produce the intended effect — said of documents, mechanisms, contracts, or measures that no longer have legal or practical force.

Used across legal, technical, and medical domains. Common collocations: 合同失效 (contract becomes invalid), 政策失效 (policy loses effect), 疫苗失效 (vaccine becomes ineffective), 证件失效 (document expires or becomes invalid), 防火墙失效 (firewall fails). Implies a transition from a state of validity to one of invalidity or ineffectiveness.

Examples

1. 该护照已于上月到期，持有人在出行前须尽快办理换发手续，否则将因证件失效无法正常通关入境。 This passport expired last month, so the holder needs to renew it as soon as possible before traveling; otherwise, they won’t be able to clear immigration because the document is no longer valid.
2. 实验室检测显示，这批药品的有效成分因保存不当而加速分解，实际效力已远低于标准，可视为临床失效。 Lab tests show that because these medicines were improperly stored, their active ingredients broke down faster than expected and their actual potency is far below the standard, effectively making them clinically ineffective.
3. 旧有的市场监管框架面对新型数字经济模式时不断暴露出失效的迹象，亟需出台针对性更强的监管法规加以完善。 The old market-regulation framework keeps showing signs of failing when faced with new digital-economy models, and more targeted regulatory rules are urgently needed to improve it.

Usage Guide

Context: law, medicine, technology, governance, contracts

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 网络安全专家提醒，旧版本的加密协议已在多次实际攻击中被证明失效，企业须尽快完成系统升级以规避数据泄露风险。(Cybersecurity experts have warned that older versions of encryption protocols have been proven ineffective in multiple real-world attacks, and enterprises must complete system upgrades as soon as possible to mitigate the risk of data breaches.)
• 政策制定者在评估现行环保法规时，发现部分条款面对新型污染物已告失效，亟需通过立法修订及时予以更新。(When evaluating current environmental regulations, policy makers found that certain provisions had already become ineffective against novel pollutants and urgently needed to be updated through legislative amendment.)

Don't Say

• 失效 to describe a person losing their effectiveness or becoming incompetent — 失效 applies to mechanisms, systems, documents, or measures, not to human ability; use 失去效率 or 能力下降 for a person's decline in effectiveness

Origin & History

失 (to lose) + 效 (effect, efficacy, validity)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal