夹击 (jiā jī) — pincer attack; attack from both sides

Definition

A military (or sports) tactic of attacking the enemy from two sides at once to trap them — literally 'clamping from both flanks.'

noun

pincer attackattack from both sides

夹击。
Dí rén shòu dào le wǒ jūn de jiā jī.
The enemy suffered a pincer attack from our army.
，夹击。
Zài bǐ sài zhōng, tā men cǎi yòng le jiā jī zhàn shù.
In the game, they adopted a pincer attack tactic.
夹击。
Zhè zhǒng jiā jī shǐ duì shǒu wú fǎ fáng shǒu.
This kind of pincer attack made the opponent unable to defend.

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.

The idea of 夹 as pincer or squeeze combined with 击 as attack gives an attack from both sides.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 夾; 夹 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 夾 draws a person with two people beside or under the arms, giving the idea of holding or sandwiching between sides.

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 擊; 击 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

毄

毄jī擊jī

Same sound today

The traditional form 擊 has 手 (hand) and 毄; 毄 gives the sound and also points to striking, while the simplified 击 is a later shorthand.

Appears in