恭恭敬敬 (gōng gōng jìng jìng) — very respectfully, deferentially, with great re…

Definition

Reduplication of 恭敬 used as an adverbial bound form meaning 'very respectfully' — intensifies the manner, typically before 地 + verb (e.g. 恭恭敬敬地鞠了一躬). Not a stand-alone predicate.

bound form

very respectfullydeferentiallywith great respect

Examples

恭恭敬敬。
Tā gōng gōng jìng jìng dì gěi lǎo shī jū le yì gōng.
He bowed to the teacher very respectfully.
恭恭敬敬。
Tā jiàn le zhǎng bèi zǒng shì gōng gōng jìng jìng de yàng zi.
He always acts very respectfully when meeting elders.
，恭恭敬敬。
Gù kè lái le, fú wù yuán gōng gōng jìng jìng dì zhàn zài yì páng.
When the customer arrived, the waiter stood aside very respectfully.

Origin

Reduplicated word

构词法gòucífǎ

重叠chóngdiéReduplication

A syllable said twice — for affection, for softness, or simply because that is how the word is said.

恭恭

恭gōngrespectful恭gōngrespectful

敬敬

敬jìngrespectful敬jìngrespectful

“恭” (respectful) and “敬” (respectful) are doubled to make the manner very respectful.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

心心xīnheart

Sound part声符shēngfú

共

共gòng恭gōng

Same sound today

恭 has 心, meaning heart, and 共, read gòng.

Open 恭 →