悲泣 (bēi qì) — to weep with grief, to mourn bitterly

Definition

悲泣 (bēi qì) is a formal/literary verb meaning 'to weep from grief' — a more elevated, written alternative to the everyday 哭. Pairs with 起来 as a separable verb (悲泣起来).

verb
to weep with griefto mourn bitterly

Examples

  • ，悲泣。
    Tīng dào zhè ge xiāo xi, tā bù jīn bēi qì qǐ lái.
    Upon hearing this news, she couldn't help but weep with grief.
  • ，悲泣。
    Zài zàng lǐ shàng, suǒ yǒu rén dōu zài bēi qì.
    At the funeral, everyone was weeping with grief.
  • 悲泣。
    Tā mò mò de zuò zài jiǎo luò lǐ bēi qì.
    He sat silently in the corner weeping with grief.

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.

悲bēisorrowful
泣qìweep

悲 names sorrow and 泣 names weeping, together meaning weeping in sorrow.

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; thought; emotion
Sound part声符shēngfú
非
非fēi悲bēi
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

悲 pairs 非 as the sound part with 心, the heart/emotion part.

Open 悲 →

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
立
立lì泣qì
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

泣 pairs 氵 (water) with 立 for the sound. It originally meant tears and later came to mean crying.

Open 泣 →

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