奖励 (jiǎng lì) — to reward, to award (someone with something)

Definition

Use 奖励 when giving a reward, often to recognize achievement or good work (a teacher, company, school gives it). 奖 is the noun ‘prize/award’; 奖赏 is more literary for bestowing a prize.

verb

to rewardto award (someone with something)

Examples

奖励。
Gōng sī jiǎng lì le tā yí liàng chē.
The company rewarded him with a car.
奖励。
Lǎo shī jiǎng lì le chéng jì hǎo de xué shēng.
The teacher rewarded the students with good grades.
奖励。
Xué xiào jiǎng lì tā yì běn cí diǎn.
The school awarded her a dictionary.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

奖jiǎngreward

励lìencourage

奖 means reward and 励 means encourage; together they mean to reward and encourage.

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 獎; 奖 is its simplified writing.

將犬獎

Meaning part形符xíngfú

犬犬quǎndog

Sound part声符shēngfú

將

將jiāng獎jiǎng

Same sound today

The traditional form 獎 pairs 將 as a sound part with 犬, a dog; the simplified 奖 is a later shorthand. The evidence says the dog part's meaning is unclear, perhaps referring to guiding a dog by voice.

Open 奖 →

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 勵; 励 is its simplified writing.

厲力勵

Meaning part形符xíngfú

力力lì

Sound part声符shēngfú

厲

厲lì勵lì

Same sound today

The traditional form 勵 puts 厲 beside 力; 力 is the meaning part, and 厲 gives the sound. The simplified 励 is a later shorthand.

Open 励 →