乘机 (chéng jī) — to seize an opportunity, to take advantage of a…

Definition

Literary 'to seize an opportunity / take advantage of a moment.' Used in formal writing (news, reports); in speech 趁机 is more common.

verb

to seize an opportunityto take advantage of a situation

乘机。
Tā chéng jī lí kāi le fáng jiān.
He took the opportunity to leave the room.
，。
Tā chéng le zhè cì jī, zhuàn le hěn duō qián.
He took this opportunity and made a lot of money.
乘机。
Dí rén chéng jī fā dòng le jìn gōng.
The enemy seized the opportunity to launch an attack.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

乘chéngtake advantage of

机jīopportunity

“乘” (take advantage of) acts on “机” (opportunity), giving to seize an opportunity.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

乘 was drawn as a person climbing a tree, with the feet visible.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

木几机

Meaning part形符xíngfú

木木mùtree; wood

Sound part声符shēngfú

几

Same sound today

The left part is 木 (tree; wood), and the right part 几 gives the sound.

Appears in