Chinese word

志愿者

Pronunciation

Pinyinzhì yuàn zhě

很多学生都想当志愿者帮助社区。hěn duō xué shēng dōu xiǎng dāng zhì yuàn zhě bāng zhù shè qū

Many students want to become volunteers to help the community.

她在图书馆做志愿者，帮助借书的人。tā zài tú shū guǎn zuò zhì yuàn zhě bāng zhù jiè shū de rén

She volunteers at the library and helps people borrow books.

A person who turns a personal willingness to help into unpaid service for others.

义工yì gōng: A person who helps with unpaid tasks for the community or a public cause.

为公益、社区或他人提供无偿服务并主动参加相关活动的人。wèi gōng yì shè qū huò tā rén tí gōng wú cháng fú wù bìng zhǔ dòng cān jiā xiāng guān huó dòng de rén

志愿者 (zhìyuànzhě, "volunteer") is 志 (zhì, "aspiration") + 愿 (yuàn, "wish") + 者 (zhě, "person"), presenting service as a person's chosen commitment.

English also uses volunteer as a verb, but Chinese keeps 志愿者 (zhìyuànzhě, "volunteer") as the person noun and expresses the action with a separate verb.