懦夫 (nuò fū) — coward; weakling | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

cowardweakling

Measure word · 个

，懦夫。
Tā yù dào kùn nan jiù tuì suō, zhēn shì gè nuò fū.
He backs down whenever he faces difficulties — he's a real coward.
懦夫。
Zhàn chǎng shàng méi yǒu rén yuàn yì dāng nuò fū.
No one wants to be a coward on the battlefield.
懦夫。
Tā bǐ shì nà xiē bù gǎn chéng dān zé rèn de nuò fū.
She despises those weaklings who dare not take responsibility.

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.

懦nuòcowardly

懦 cowardly and 夫 man combine to mean a coward.

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.

忄需懦

Meaning part形符xíngfú

忄Written in full as心xīnheart

Sound part声符shēngfú

需

需xū懦nuò

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left side 忄 is a heart; the right side 需 gives the sound.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

夫 originally drew a man. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write a pronoun, so the picture and the pronoun meaning are unrelated.

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