在野

zàiyě

verb #30,286

Meanings

1 to be out of (political) office
2 to be in opposition
3 to not hold government power

Characters

to be at; to be in

wilderness; out of office

Examples

目前自由党在野。

Mùqián Zìyóudǎng zài yě.

Currently the Liberal Party is in opposition.

在野党批评了政府的政策。

Zàiyědǎng pīpíng le zhèngfǔ de zhèngcè.

The opposition party criticized the government's policy.

他从在朝到在野，地位发生了巨大变化。

Tā cóng zài cháo dào zài yě, dìwèi fāshēng le jùdà biànhuà.

Going from in office to out of office, his status changed dramatically.

Tips

history

Comes from the imperial pair 在朝 / 在野 — "at court" vs. "in the wilds." 朝 was the imperial court (those serving in government); 野 was the countryside (those without office). Modern usage maps cleanly onto "in government" vs. "in opposition."

usage

在野党 (zàiyědǎng) = opposition party; 执政党 (zhízhèngdǎng) = ruling party. The pair shows up constantly in news coverage of multi-party democracies (Japan, Taiwan, UK, etc.).

Stroke Order

在 zài

野 yě