探求 (tàn qiú) — to seek, to pursue, to investigate | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

探求 emphasizes deep, methodical inquiry into truth, meaning, or root causes — more about understanding than 寻找 (just locating). Pairs with abstract goals like 意义, 原因, 真理.

verb

to seekto pursueto investigate

Examples

探求。
Tā yì zhí zài tàn qiú rén shēng de yì yì.
He has been seeking the meaning of life.
探求。
Kē xué jiā men nǔ lì tàn qiú wèi zhī de lǐng yù.
Scientists strive to explore unknown fields.
探求。
Wǒ men xū yào tàn qiú wèn tí de gēn běn yuán yīn.
We need to investigate the root cause of the problem.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

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

探tànexplore

探 means to explore and 求 means to seek, so together they mean to seek or investigate.

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

𥥍

𥥍𥥍探tàn

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

In 探, the 扌 part is a hand, and 𥥍 gives the sound.

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

求 began as a drawing of a centipede.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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