招认 (zhāo rèn) — to confess (to a crime) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A formal, written verb meaning 'to confess (to a crime)', typically of an offender admitting wrongdoing under investigation or in court. Note the character 认, not 认 as in 认识.

verb

to confess (to a crime)

Examples

招认。
Tā zuì zhōng zhāo rèn le zuì xíng.
He finally confessed to the crime.
，招认。
Zài jǐng chá de shěn wèn xià, tā zhāo rèn le yí qiè.
Under police interrogation, he confessed to everything.
招认。
Tā zhāo rèn zì jǐ cān yù le dào qiè.
She confessed to participating in the theft.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

认rènacknowledge

招 and 认 both involve admitting something, so 招认 means confessing to a crime.

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.

扌召招

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

召

召zhào招zhāo

Same sound today

招 pairs 扌, the hand part, with 召, which gives the sound, to show beckoning with the hand.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

讠人认

Meaning part形符xíngfú

讠Written in full as言yánspeech

Sound part声符shēngfú

人

人rén认rèn

Same sound today

The left part 讠 shows speech, and the right part 人 gives the sound.

Appears in

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