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投机 (tóu jī) — to speculate (on financial markets); opportunistic; (of conversation or interaction) congenial, agreeable

Definition

Two unrelated senses: financial 'to speculate / opportunistic' (contrast with 推测 'to infer from evidence', and 炒股 'speculate in stocks' which is stock-specific) — and in conversation, 'congenial, hitting it off' (no sibling matches this sense).

to speculate (on financial markets)opportunistic(of conversation or interaction) congenialagreeable

Examples

  • 投机，。
    Tā zài gǔ shì tóu jī, zhuàn le bù shǎo qián.
    He speculated in the stock market and made a lot of money.
  • 投机。
    Méi xiǎng dào wǒ men dì yī cì liáo tiān jiù liáo dé zhè me tóu jī.
    I didn't expect that we would chat so congenially on our first talk.
  • 。
    Zhè zhǒng tóu jī qǔ qiǎo de zuò fǎ chí zǎo huì chū shì.
    This kind of opportunistic shortcut will cause trouble sooner or later.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

投tóuseek
机jīopportunity

投 means 'seek' and 机 means 'opportunity', so it is seeking opportunity, as in speculation.

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 →

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
木木mùtree; wood
Sound part声符shēngfú
几
几jǐ机jī
Same sound today

The left part is 木 (tree; wood), and the right part 几 gives the sound.

Open 机 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Finance & BankingPersonality & Traits

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