<p>东西 often refers to some concrete object, while 事儿 means matter/affair/business.</p>
<p>你下午有啥事儿吗？- What are you up to this afternoon?</p>
<p>你在吃什么东西？- What are you eating?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-05T04:30:13.390Z
东西 (thing) could be abstract ideas too, e.g. 东西 in 有什么东西在阻碍我 could just be my own doubt
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-04T19:42:24.350Z
2021-12-04T19:42:24.350Z
hackape
<p>You can specify them by differ these two phrases：
做事儿，买东西,
which partly mean：
do a thing， buy a thing.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-04T17:17:03.307Z
2021-12-04T17:17:03.307Z
Soriak
<p>The former (事儿) is an intangible thing, (an event, a matter, something that happening...), and the latter (东西) is a tangible thing that you can purchase and use.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-04T23:14:10.150Z
2021-12-04T23:14:10.150Z
r13
<p>Its somewhat of a matter of habitual usage and preferential thing way of referring both to, like you have said, 'things'.</p>
<p>I believe the former is more widely used with people from the Northern part of China particular around capital region, the latter is somewhat of a more general usage.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-05-26T04:09:39.197Z
事儿 corresponding to stuff too, not from Hong Kong (maybe not from Taipei)
envs_h_gang_5
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-06T03:13:31.947Z
2021-12-06T03:13:31.947Z
ygeMason
<p>What is the difference in meaning between 事儿 and 东西. As far as I understand both mean &quot;thing&quot;.
All help is appreciated.</p>

<grammar><vocabulary>
Difference between 事儿 vs 东西
# Difference between 事儿 vs 东西

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-12-04)

What is the difference in meaning between 事儿 and 东西. As far as I understand both mean "thing".
All help is appreciated.

**Tags:** grammar, vocabulary


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## 4 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-12-04. Score: 3

东西 often refers to some concrete object, while 事儿 means matter/affair/business.

你下午有啥事儿吗？- What are you up to this afternoon?

你在吃什么东西？- What are you eating?

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: 东西 (thing) could be abstract ideas too, e.g. 东西 in 有什么东西在阻碍我 could just be my own doubt  

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### Answer by username_3 on 2021-12-04. Score: 1

You can specify them by differ these two phrases：
做事儿，买东西,
which partly mean：
do a thing， buy a thing.


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### Answer by username_4 on 2021-12-04. Score: 1

The former (事儿) is an intangible thing, (an event, a matter, something that happening...), and the latter (东西) is a tangible thing that you can purchase and use.


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### Answer by username_5 on 2021-12-06. Score: 0

Its somewhat of a matter of habitual usage and preferential thing way of referring both to, like you have said, 'things'.

I believe the former is more widely used with people from the Northern part of China particular around capital region, the latter is somewhat of a more general usage.

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: 事儿 corresponding to stuff too, not from Hong Kong (maybe not from Taipei)  

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