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早日 (zǎo rì) — (adverb) soon, at an early date; (noun) early days, earlier times

Definition

Literary/formal adverb meaning 'at an early date, soon' — used in written wishes and formal requests (早日康复, 早日完成), unlike the colloquial 一会儿 or 即将. As a noun, 早期 is the more common term for 'early period'.

adverb
soonat an early date
noun
early daysearlier times

Examples

  • 早日。
    Zhù nǐ zǎo rì kāng fù.
    Wish you a speedy recovery.
  • 早日。
    Xī wàng zhè ge xiàng mù zǎo rì wán chéng.
    I hope this project will be completed soon.
  • 早日，。
    Zài zǎo rì de zhōng guó, jiāo tōng hěn bù fāng biàn.
    In early days China, transportation was very inconvenient.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

早zǎoearly
日rìday

早 means early, and 日 means day, giving the sense of soon or an early day.

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
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.

Open 早 →

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

日 originally drew the sun. A mark was added inside to tell it apart from similar square shapes.

Open 日 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Time (Abstract)

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