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唤醒 (huàn xǐng) — to wake (someone) up (from sleep); to arouse, to awaken (memories, emotions, consciousness)

Definition

唤醒 (huànxǐng) is transitive: someone or something wakes/arouses a person, memory, or feeling. Pair with the intransitive 醒 ('to wake up' on one's own); 唤起 is a near-synonym but focuses more on evoking feelings or actions.

verb
to wake (someone) up (from sleep)to arouseto awaken (memories, emotions, consciousness)

Examples

  • 唤醒。
    Mā ma měi tiān zǎo shàng liù diǎn huàn xǐng wǒ.
    Mom wakes me up at six every morning.
  • 唤醒。
    Zhè piān bào dào huàn xǐng le rén men duì huán bǎo de guān zhù.
    This report aroused people's attention to environmental protection.
  • 唤醒。
    Nà shǒu gē huàn xǐng le wǒ tóng nián de jì yì.
    That song awakened memories of my childhood.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

唤huàncall
醒xǐngawake

'唤' conveys calling or rousing, and '醒' adds being awake, together meaning to wake someone.

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 喚; 唤 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
口口kǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
奐
奐huàn喚huàn
Same sound today

The traditional form 喚 pairs 口 (mouth) with 奐, which gives the pronunciation; the simplified 唤 is a later shorthand, and its right side is not the old sound part.

Open 唤 →

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
酉酉yǒualcohol
Sound part声符shēngfú
星
星xīng醒xǐng
Same sound today

醒 combines 酉, which stands for alcohol, with 星, which gives the sound.

Open 醒 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Daily Routine

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