凑足 (còu zú) — to gather enough (of something, e.g. money, people) to meet a requirement

Definition

凑足 means scraping together or managing to gather just enough to meet a quota — money, people, or points. Implies a final push to reach a required number, not casual collection.

verb
to gather enough (of something, e.g. money, people) to meet a requirement

Examples

  • 凑足。
    Wǒ men zhōng yú còu zú le qián mǎi fáng zi.
    We finally gathered enough money to buy a house.
  • ，凑足？
    Qiú duì hái chà liǎng gè rén, nǐ néng bāng máng còu zú ma?
    The team is still short two people, can you help make up the number?
  • 凑足。
    Tā còu zú le jī fēn cái huàn dào zhè zhāng jī piào.
    He only got this plane ticket after accumulating enough points.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

凑còugather
足zúenough

凑 means gather and 足 means enough, so the action brings something up to sufficiency.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 湊; 凑 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
氵Written in full as水shuǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
奏
奏zòu湊còu
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 湊 uses 氵 (water) as the meaning element and 奏 as the sound element. The simplified 凑 is a later shorthand.

Open 凑 →

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

足 was originally drawn as a leg.

Open 足 →

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