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告白 (gào bái) — (formal) public notice; bulletin; (colloquial) romantic confession; declaration of love

Definition

The formal sense is 'public notice or announcement' (older/written, close to 公告); the colloquial sense is a personal confession of love — tell someone your feelings.

noun
(formal) public noticebulletin(colloquial) romantic confessiondeclaration of love

Examples

  • 告白。
    Xué xiào de gōng gào lán shàng tiē le yì zhāng guān yú kǎo shì ān pái de gào bái.
    A notice about the exam schedule was posted on the school bulletin board.
  • ，説告白。
    Tā gǔ qǐ yǒng qì, zhōng yú duì tā yuè chū le zì jǐ de gào bái.
    He gathered his courage and finally made his confession to her.
  • ，告白。
    Nà chǎng diàn yǐng lǐ, nán zhǔ jué de gào bái ràng quán chǎng guān zhòng dōu gǎn dòng le.
    In that movie, the male lead's confession moved the entire audience.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

告gàotell; declare
白báitell; state

告 and 白 both carry the sense of declaring or making something known, so together they name a public statement or confession.

Characters in this word

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

The origin is unclear: one theory sees 告 as 壴 (a decorated drum) above 口 (an open mouth), while another sees a tongue sticking out of 口.

Open 告 →

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

白 is thought to picture either an acorn or a human head.

Open 白 →
Appears in
Communication & SpeechRomance & Marriage

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