招降 (zhāo jiàng) — to summon (the enemy) to surrender

Definition

A military/political verb: to call on the opposing side to give up and surrender. It is a transitive action performed toward an enemy, not a synonym of the plain verb 投降 ('to surrender' itself).

verb
to summon (the enemy) to surrender

Examples

  • 招降，。
    Jiāng jūn duō cì pài rén zhāo jiàng, dàn dí jūn jù jué tóu xiáng.
    The general sent people many times to call on the enemy to surrender, but they refused.
  • ，。
    Dí jūn bèi wǒ jūn zhāo le jǐ cì jiàng, zuì hòu zhōng yú tóu xiáng le.
    Our army called on the enemy to surrender several times, and in the end they finally surrendered.
  • 招降，。
    zhāo jiàng Chéng gōng zhī hòu, xǔ duō shì bīng xuǎn zé jiā rù wǒ men.
    After successfully calling for surrender, many soldiers chose to join us.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

招zhāosummon
降jiàngsurrender

招 summons an enemy, while 降 names the surrender being sought.

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
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.

Open 招 →

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
阝Written in full as阜fùhill, wall
Sound part声符shēngfú
夅
夅jiàng降xiáng
Same sound today

降 pairs 阝 (a hill or wall, written in full as 阜) with 夅, a sound part meaning 'to descend'; together they picture descending a hill.

Open 降 →

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