shén me shìdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
What's up? / Is something the matter? / (coll.) (used in rhetorical questions of the form 關|关[guān] + {person} + 什麼事|什么事[shén me shì] "what business is it of {person}'s?; what's it to {person}?")
Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-bfa9d0211b84ac28. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

什麼事 什么事 [shen2 me5 shi4] /What's up?; Is something the matter?/(coll.) (used in rhetorical questions of the form 關|关[guan1] + {person} + 什麼事|什么事[shen2 me5 shi4] "what business is it of {person}'s?; what's it to {person}?")/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 什麼事

  • 什
    shén

    what

    shí

    ten (used in fractions, writing checks etc) / assorted / miscellaneous

  • 么
    yāo

    youngest / most junior / tiny / one (unambiguous spoken form when spelling out numbers, esp. on telephone or in military) / one or ace on dice or dominoes / variant of 吆[yāo], to shout

    má

    exclamatory final particle

    ma

    interrogative final particle

    me

    suffix, used to form interrogative 什麼|什么[shén me], what?, indefinite 這麼|这么[zhè me] thus, etc

    Yāo

    surname Yao

  • 事
    shì

    matter / thing / item / work / affair / CL:件[jiàn],樁|桩[zhuāng],回[huí]

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.