嗅到 (xiù dào) — to smell (and detect), to catch a whiff of, to… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

嗅到 is the resultative form of 嗅: 'to catch a scent', emphasizing successful detection rather than the act of sniffing. Compare 闻 (wén), the general word for smelling, which can be transitive or intransitive.

verb

to smell (and detect)to catch a whiff ofto sniff out

Examples

嗅到。
Wǒ zǒu jìn huā yuán jiù xiù dào le huā xiāng.
As soon as I walked into the garden, I smelled the fragrance of flowers.
嗅到。
Gǒu yuǎn yuǎn de xiù dào le wēi xiǎn de qì xī.
The dog smelled the dangerous scent from far away.
嗅到？。
Nǐ xiù dào méi yǒu? hǎo xiàng yǒu dōng xī shāo jiāo le.
Did you smell it? It seems something is burning.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

嗅 means smell and 到 means reach, giving the sense of catching a smell.

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.

口臭嗅

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

臭

臭chòu嗅xiù

Same sound today

The left 口 (mouth) is the meaning part, and the right 臭 gives the sound.

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

至至zhìto arrive

Sound part声符shēngfú

刀

刀dāo到dào

Same sound today

到 combines 至, meaning 'to arrive', with 刀 as the sound part. The 至 part points to the idea of reaching a stopping point.

Appears in

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