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做爱 (zuò ài) — to make love

Definition

verb
to make love

Examples

  • 做爱。
    Tā men zuó tiān wǎn shàng zuò ài le.
    They made love last night.
  • ，做爱。
    Jié hūn hòu, tā men jīng cháng zuò ài.
    After getting married, they often make love.
  • 做爱。
    Zài gōng gòng chǎng hé zuò ài shì bú duì de.
    It is wrong to make love in public places.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

做zuòdo
爱àilove

做 means do and 爱 means love; together they express the act of making love.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 做 →

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 愛; 爱 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
旡
旡jì愛ài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

For the traditional form 愛, an older shape paired 心 (heart) with 旡 as its sound part; later a foot-like 夊 was added below. The simplified 爱 is a later variant that replaces the lower part with 友.

Open 爱 →
Appears in
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