求婚 (qiú hūn) — to propose marriage (to someone) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

求 (qiú) means to ask/request, so 求婚 is the act of asking someone to marry you — a formal proposal, one moment. 订婚 is the next step: an agreement to marry, which may or may not follow a proposal.

verb

to propose marriage (to someone)

Examples

求婚。
Tā dǎ suàn míng tiān xiàng nǚ péng you qiú hūn.
He plans to propose to his girlfriend tomorrow.
，。
Tā qiú le sān cì hūn, zhōng yú chéng gōng le.
He proposed three times and finally succeeded.
求婚？
Nǐ huì zài nǎ lǐ qiú hūn?
Where will you propose?

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

婚hūnmarriage

求 means seek and 婚 means marriage, together describing seeking marriage.

Characters in this word

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

求 began as a drawing of a centipede.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

女昏婚

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

昏

昏hūn婚hūn

Same sound today

婚 uses 女 (woman) for the meaning and 昏 for the sound hūn.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 6 Romance & Marriage 5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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