提早 (tí zǎo) — in advance, ahead of time | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

提早 (tízǎo) means 'earlier than planned or expected' — it focuses on doing something ahead of schedule, stronger than 提前 which is the more common all-purpose 'in advance'.

adverb

in advanceahead of time

Examples

，提早。
Wèi le gǎn shàng huǒ chē, wǒ men tí zǎo chū fā le.
In order to catch the train, we set off ahead of time.
提早。
Nǐ zuì hǎo tí zǎo yù dìng zuò wèi.
You'd better reserve a seat in advance.
提早。
Qǐng tí zǎo zuò hǎo zhǔn bèi gōng zuò.
Please prepare in advance.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

提tíadvance

提 means advance and 早 means early, so move to an earlier time.

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.

扌是提

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

是

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

提 shows 扌 (hand) beside 是, which gives the pronunciation.

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

日日rìsun

Sound part声符shēngfú

棗

棗zǎo早zǎo

Same sound today

The form 早 pairs 日 (sun) with 棗, which gives the sound; an earlier shape of 早 was a picture of an acorn.

Appears in

Time (Abstract)

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