偷猎 (tōu liè) — to poach, to hunt illegally

Definition

verb

to poachto hunt illegally

偷猎。
Tā yīn wèi tōu liè bèi jǐng chá zhuā le.
He was caught by the police for poaching.
偷猎。
tōu liè Yě shēng dòng wù shì wéi fǎ de.
Poaching wild animals is illegal.
偷猎。
Zhèng fǔ zhèng zài yán lì dǎ jī tōu liè xíng wéi.
The government is cracking down on poaching activities.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

偷tōusecretly

偷 means secretly, and 猎 means to hunt; together they describe illegal covert hunting.

Characters in this word

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

亻俞偷

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rén

Sound part声符shēngfú

俞

俞yú偷tōu

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left part 亻, a standing person, points to the idea of someone doing the act, while the right part 俞 gives the character its sound.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

昔

昔xī猎liè

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 猎, the left part 犬 means dog and the right part 昔 provides the sound.

Appears in