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号召 (hào zhào) — to call upon; to appeal; to urge (the public to do something)

Definition

号召 is a public, mobilizing call to action ('call upon / appeal to'). Compare 呼吁, which is a verbal appeal or plea; 召开/召集 is just convening a meeting, not urging action.

verb
to call uponto appealto urge (the public to do something)

Examples

  • 号召。
    Zhèng fǔ hào zhào quán mín jié yuē yòng shuǐ.
    The government calls on all citizens to save water.
  • 号召。
    Xué xiào hào zhào xué shēng jī jí cān jiā zhì yuàn zhě huó dòng.
    The school urges students to actively participate in volunteer activities.
  • 号召。
    Zhǔ xí hào zhào quán guó rén mín tuán jié qǐ lái.
    The chairman called on the whole nation to unite.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

号hàocall out
召zhàosummon

Both 号 and 召 carry the idea of calling out, so together they form a public call or appeal.

Characters in this word

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

  • 口口kǒumouth
  • 丂丂kǎoexhaled air; a tiger's cry

The shape 号 comes from 口, a mouth, and 丂, exhaled air or a tiger's cry.

Open 号 →

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
口口kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
刀
刀dāo召zhào
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape of 召 pairs 口 (mouth), for calling out, with 刀 (knife), which supplies the sound; it originally meant to call out or serve wine.

Open 召 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6HSK 2.0 Level 6Communication & Speech

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