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乞讨 (qǐ tǎo) — to beg (for money or food)

Definition

乞讨 specifically means begging on the street for money or food (a vagrant activity), unlike the more literary/figurative 乞求 or the verbal 恳求/哀求. 伸手 is the colloquial short way to say the same street-begging act.

verb
to beg (for money or food)

Examples

  • 乞讨。
    Tā zài chē zhàn xiàng lù rén qǐ tǎo.
    He begged from passers-by at the train station.
  • 乞讨。
    Nà ge lǎo rén yīn wèi shī yè bù dé bù qǐ tǎo.
    That old man had to beg because of unemployment.
  • 乞讨。
    Hěn duō guó jiā jìn zhǐ zài gōng gòng chǎng suǒ qǐ tǎo.
    Many countries forbid begging in public places.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

乞qǐbeg
讨tǎoseek

Begging for a living combines 乞, to beg, with 讨, to seek or ask for.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 乞 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 討; 讨 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yán
Sound part声符shēngfú
肘
肘zhǒu討tǎo
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 討 pairs 言 (speech) with a shortened form of 肘 for sound; an old reading took 言 plus 寸 (hand) as 'rectify'. The simplified 讨 is a shorthand, so its parts are not historical components.

Open 讨 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Society & Public Life

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