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公然 (gōng rán) — in a brazen and undisguised manner; flagrantly

Definition

公然 means doing something openly and with no attempt to hide it, but it always implies the act is shameless and blameworthy. Stronger than 当众, which just means 'in front of everyone' without the negative judgment.

adverb
in a brazen and undisguised mannerflagrantly

Examples

  • 公然。
    Tā gōng rán zài gōng zhòng chǎng hé wǔ rǔ tā rén.
    He openly insulted others in a public setting.
  • 公然。
    Zhè jiā gōng sī gōng rán zào jiǎ zhàng qī piàn tóu zī zhě.
    This company flagrantly cooked the books to deceive investors.
  • 公然，。
    Guān yuán gōng rán shōu shòu huì lù, yǐn qǐ gōng fèn.
    The official brazenly accepted bribes, sparking public outrage.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

公gōngopen
然ránin that way

公 gives the sense of open and 然 gives the sense of in that way, so the word means openly.

Characters in this word

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

One theory sees 公 as a picture of a wide-mouthed, round-bottomed jar.

Open 公 →

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
火火huǒfire
Sound part声符shēngfú
肰
肰rán然rán
Same sound today

然 is made from 肰, which gives the sound, and 火, which shows fire, matching the old sense 'to burn'.

Open 然 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6

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