声援 (shēng yuán) — to voice support for, to express solidarity with (publicly or morally)

Definition

声援 (shēngyuán) means to publicly voice support or solidarity with someone, often a person, group, or cause under pressure. It is an action verb, usually used in written news, official statements, or social contexts — not casual speech.

verb
to voice support forto express solidarity with (publicly or morally)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 声援。
    Hěn duō xué shēng shàng jiē shēng yuán kàng yì zhě.
    Many students took to the streets to voice support for the protesters.
  • 声援。
    Tā men tōng guò shè jiāo méi tǐ shēng yuán ruò shì qún tǐ.
    They voiced support for marginalized groups through social media.
  • 声援。
    Zhè cì huó dòng dé dào le guó jì shè huì de guǎng fàn shēng yuán.
    This event received widespread vocal support from the international community.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

声shēngvoice
援yuánsupport

声 (voice) and 援 (support) combine to mean support expressed by voice.

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 聲; 声 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
耳耳ěrear
Sound part声符shēngfú
殸
殸qìng聲shēng
Same sound today

The traditional form 聲 pairs 耳 (ear) with 殸 as a sound part; the simplified 声 is a shorthand and does not show those original parts.

Open 声 →

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
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
爰
爰yuán援yuán
Same sound today

In 援, the left 扌 (written fully as 手) is a hand, and the right 爰 tells you how it sounds.

Open 援 →

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