昂然 (áng rán) — upright and unafraid; with head held high and fearless

Definition

Literary adverbial meaning 'with head held high and unafraid' — describes posture, speech, or actions that show bold, dignified confidence. Used mainly in written Chinese.

verb
upright and unafraidwith head held high and fearless

Examples

  • ，昂然。
    Tā miàn duì kùn nan, áng rán tǐng lì.
    He stood upright and unafraid in the face of difficulties.
  • 昂然。
    Shì bīng men áng rán zǒu jìn zhàn chǎng.
    The soldiers marched into the battlefield with heads held high.
  • 昂然。
    Tā áng rán dì jù jué le bù hé lǐ de yāo qiú.
    She fearlessly rejected the unreasonable request.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

昂ánghigh
然ránstate

The 昂 part suggests holding high, while 然 gives the state of being upright and fearless.

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
卬
卬áng昂áng
Same sound today

昂 pairs 日 (sun) with 卬, a drawing of a standing man and a kneeling man that gives the sound.

Open 昂 →

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
火火huǒfire
Sound part声符shēngfú
肰
肰rán然rán
Same sound today

然 is made from 肰, which gives the sound, and 火, which shows fire, matching the old sense 'to burn'.

Open 然 →

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