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得罪 (dé zuì) — to offend (someone); (polite expression) excuse me; sorry (for any inadvertent offense)

Definition

得罪 means 'to offend' a person — stronger than 冒犯 (often about dignity or protocol) and milder than 触犯 (which also covers laws/rules). It is NOT a polite 'excuse me'; use 对不起/不好意思 for that.

verb
to offend (someone)(polite expression) excuse mesorry (for any inadvertent offense)

Examples

  • 得罪。
    Nǐ gāng cái nà jù huà dé zuì tā le.
    That remark you just made offended him.
  • 得罪，得罪，。
    dé zuì, dé zuì, Gāng cái shì wǒ shī yán le.
    Sorry, sorry — I didn't mean to say that.
  • 得罪？
    Wǒ dào dǐ nǎ lǐ dé zuì nǐ le?
    What exactly did I do to offend you?

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

得déincur
罪zuìoffense

"得" (incur) and "罪" (offense) combine to mean causing offense to someone.

Characters in this word

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

The old form 㝵 showed a hand picking up a cowry, meaning to obtain; later changes turned that picture into 得.

Open 得 →

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

罪 puts 罒 (a net, written fully as 网) over 非 (mistake).

Open 罪 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Conflict & AgreementEmotions & Feelings

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