复仇 (fù chóu) — to avenge; to take revenge | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

复仇 (fùchóu) means 'to avenge, to take revenge' — a more literary, written-style verb than the everyday 报复, often used for avenging a wrongdoing or a person (e.g. 为父复仇).

verb

to avengeto take revenge

Examples

复仇。
Zhǔ jué jué dìng fù chóu.
The protagonist decides to take revenge.
复仇。
Tā fā shì yào wèi fù qīn fù chóu.
He vowed to avenge his father.
，复仇。
Gù shi de zuì hòu, tā chéng gōng fù chóu le.
At the end of the story, he successfully took revenge.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

复 (to repay) acts on 仇 (enmity), giving the idea of taking revenge.

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 復; 复 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 复 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (复习, 恢复) it is 復; in others (复印, 复杂) (答复, 反复) it is 複 or 覆.

彳复復

Meaning part形符xíngfú

彳彳chìwalk

Sound part声符shēngfú

复

复fù復fù

Same sound today

The traditional form 復 combines 彳, a walking part, with 复, a sound part, to show walking back and forth.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

亻九仇

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rénperson

Sound part声符shēngfú

九

九jiǔ仇⁰qiú

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

仇 has 亻, a person, and 九, which gives the sound.

Appears in

Conflict & Agreement 5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.