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敦促 (dūn cù) — to urge; to press; to hasten

Definition

敦促 is a formal verb meaning to formally urge or press someone to act (often an authority urging others). Stronger and more official than 催促; without 怂恿's negative sense of inciting bad behavior.

verb
to urgeto pressto hasten

Examples

  • 敦促。
    Zhèng fǔ dūn cù gè fāng jǐn kuài dá chéng xié yì.
    The government urged all parties to reach an agreement as soon as possible.
  • 敦促。
    Lǎo shī fǎn fù dūn cù xué shēng rèn zhēn fù xí.
    The teacher repeatedly urged the students to review carefully.
  • 敦促。
    Tā dūn cù wǒ mǎ shàng cǎi qǔ xíng dòng.
    He urged me to take immediate action.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

敦dūnurge
促cùhasten

敦 and 促 both carry the sense of pressing or hastening, so the meaning is to urge strongly.

Characters in this word

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

  • 亯亯xiǎngancestral shrine
  • 羊羊yángsheep

The form behind 敦 combines 亯, an ancestral shrine, with 羊, a sheep, showing a cooked goat as a sacrifice.

Open 敦 →

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
亻Written in full as人rén
Sound part声符shēngfú
足
足zú促cù
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

促 pairs 亻 (person, written 人 when complete) with 足, which helps show its sound.

Open 促 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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