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投入 (tóu rù) — (verb) to invest (money, resources); to put in (time, effort); (adjective) absorbed, engrossed, devoted; (noun) investment, input

Definition

投入 covers both 'to invest (time, effort, resources)' and 'absorbed/devoted' — like 投放 but for non-physical things like attention and money. As an adjective for being engrossed, 只顾 implies neglecting everything else, while 投入 is simply deeply focused.

verb
to invest (money, resources)to put in (time, effort)
adjective
absorbedengrosseddevoted
noun
investmentinput

Examples

  • 投入。
    Tā tóu rù le hěn duō shí jiān xué xí zhōng wén.
    He invested a lot of time learning Chinese.
  • 投入。
    Tā gōng zuò hěn tóu rù.
    He is very absorbed in his work.
  • 投入。
    Gōng sī de tóu rù zēng jiā le.
    The company's investment increased.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

投tóuput
入rùin

投 'put' and 入 'in' mean to put into, then absorbed or invested.

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
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
殳
殳shū投tóu
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left part 扌 shows a hand, and the right part 殳 gives the sound of the character.

Open 投 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

入 is drawn as an arrowhead, indicating 'to enter'.

Open 入 →
Appears in
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