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收养 (shōu yǎng) — to adopt (a child or pet); to take in and care for (an elderly person)

Definition

收养 focuses on the people side — adopting a child, pet, or taking in an elderly person as a dependent. Unlike 领养, which is only for children or pets, 收养 also covers elderly care.

verb
to adopt (a child or pet)to take in and care for (an elderly person)

Examples

  • 收养。
    Zhè duì fū qī jué dìng shōu yǎng yí gè hái zi.
    This couple decided to adopt a child.
  • 收养。
    Tā shōu yǎng le yì zhī shòu shāng de xiǎo māo.
    She adopted an injured kitten.
  • 收养。
    shōu yǎng Lǎo rén xū yào bàn lǐ hé fǎ shǒu xù.
    Taking in an elderly person requires completing legal formalities.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

收shōutake in
养yǎngraise

收 denotes taking in and 养 denotes raising, giving the sense of adopting or caring for.

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
攴攴pū
Sound part声符shēngfú
丩
丩jiū收shōu
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

收 uses 攴 to show an action and 丩 as a sound clue; the old meaning was 'to arrest.'

Open 收 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 養; 养 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 養 uses 羊 as a sound part and 食 as a meaning part.

Open 养 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Family & Kinship5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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