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争吵 (zhēng chǎo) — to quarrel, to argue, to dispute

Definition

争吵 highlights the conflict itself — a heated quarrel between people. It is more intense and interpersonal than 吵 (which can also mean 'noisy') or 争论 ('to debate' ideas).

verb
to quarrelto argueto dispute

Examples

  • 争吵，。
    Tā men zǒng wèi xiǎo shì zhēng chǎo, zuì hòu shuí yě bù lǐ shuí.
    They always quarrel over small things and end up ignoring each other.
  • 争吵，。
    Liǎng wèi tóng xué zài kè táng shàng zhēng chǎo qǐ lái, lǎo shī lì kè zhì zhǐ le.
    The two classmates started arguing in class, and the teacher immediately stopped them.
  • 争吵。
    Fū qī zhī jiān ǒu ěr zhēng chǎo shì zhèng cháng de.
    It's normal for couples to quarrel occasionally.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

争zhēngargue
吵chǎoquarrel

争 and 吵 both refer to arguing and noisy complaints; together they mean to quarrel.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 爭; 争 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 爭 shows two hands on a plowshare; the simplified 争 is a later abbreviation, so this picture belongs to 爭, not 争.

Open 争 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
口口kǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
少
少shǎo吵chǎo
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

吵 is built from 口, a mouth, plus 少, which supplies the sound. The mouth part matches meanings about noise and quarreling.

Open 吵 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6Conflict & Agreement5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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