忠告 (zhōng gào) — (verb) to advise; to give advice; (noun) advice… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

忠告 means earnest, sincere 'advice/counsel' — both the advice itself and the act of giving it. Stronger and more heartfelt than 劝告, and more personal than the broader 劝说 ('to persuade').

verb

to adviseto give advice

noun

advicecounsel

Examples

忠告。
Tā gěi le wǒ yì tiáo bǎo guì de zhōng gào.
He gave me a valuable piece of advice.
忠告。
Wǒ zhōng gào tā bú yào qīng yì fàng qì zhè ge bú qiè shí jì de xiǎng fǎ.
I advise giving up this impractical idea.
忠告。
Nǐ de zhōng gào ràng wǒ zǐ xì kǎo lǜ le hěn jiǔ.
Your advice made me think carefully for a long time.

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.

忠zhōngsincere

告gàotelling

忠 (sincere) and 告 (telling) combine: advice given from a loyal, honest heart.

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.

中心忠

Meaning part形符xíngfú

心心xīnheart

Sound part声符shēngfú

中

中zhōng忠zhōng

Same sound today

忠 pairs 心, meaning heart, with 中, which gives its sound.

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

壴壴zhù
口口kǒu

The origin is unclear: one theory sees 告 as 壴 (a decorated drum) above 口 (an open mouth), while another sees a tongue sticking out of 口.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Communication & Speech

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