断句 (duàn gōu) — to punctuate; to insert pauses in unpunctuated writing; to break up a sentence when reading aloud; to pause

Definition

断句 (duàn jù) means to divide running text into sentences — either by adding punctuation to unpunctuated writing (classical texts) or by pausing at the right places when reading aloud.

verb
to punctuateto insert pauses in unpunctuated writingto break up a sentence when reading aloudto pause

Examples

  • ，断句。
    Gǔ shū méi yǒu biāo diǎn, quán kào dú zhě zì jǐ duàn gōu.
    Ancient books have no punctuation — it's entirely up to the reader to break sentences.
  • 。
    Nǐ lǎng dú de shí hou yào zhù yì duàn hǎo jù.
    When you read aloud, be careful to pause at the right places.
  • 断句。
    Zhè piān wén zhāng lǐ yǒu yí jù hěn nán duàn gōu.
    There's one sentence in this essay that's very hard to punctuate.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

断duàncut
句jùsentence

断句 uses 断 meaning to cut with 句 meaning sentence to describe marking pauses between sentences.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 斷; 断 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 斷 uses 𢇍 (to cut) and 斤 (axe) together.

Open 断 →

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
丩丩jiūto entangle
Sound part声符shēngfú
口
口kǒu句jù
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

句 pairs 丩, originally two entangled ropes and giving a sense of entangling, with 口 as the sound part.

Open 句 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.