出轨 (chū guǐ) — to have an affair; to cheat (on one's spouse);…

Definition

Literally 'to leave the rails,' now used almost entirely for marital infidelity. In train/transport contexts 脱轨 (tuō guǐ) is more common.

verb

to have an affairto cheat (on one's spouse)to derailto go off the rails (of a train)

出轨。
Tā yīn wèi chū guǐ ér lí hūn le.
He got divorced because of an affair.
出轨，。
Huǒ chē chū guǐ le, xìng hǎo méi yǒu rén yuán shòu shāng.
The train derailed; fortunately no one was injured.
。
Tā huái yí zhàng fu chū guò guǐ.
She suspects her husband has had an affair.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

出 (go out) and 轨 (rail) describe leaving the track, extended to cheating.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

出 combines 止 (foot) and 凵 (cave) to show a foot stepping out of a cave.

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 軌; 轨 is its simplified writing.

車九軌

Meaning part形符xíngfú

車車jū

Sound part声符shēngfú

九

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

The traditional form 軌 pairs 車 (cart) with 九 as a sound part; the simplified 轨 is a later shorthand.

Appears in