活活 (huó huó) — while still alive (emphasizing that the action…

Definition

An adverb that goes before a verb to stress the action happens to a living being — emphasizing cruelty or tragedy (e.g. 活活打死 'beaten to death alive').

adverb

while still alive (emphasizing that the action occurs on a living person)

Examples

活活。
Nà ge fàn rén bèi huó huó dǎ sǐ le.
That prisoner was beaten to death while still alive.
，活活。
Chéng shì bèi wéi, bǎi xìng bèi huó huó è sǐ.
The city was besieged, and the common people starved to death.
活活。
Tā men zài huǒ zāi zhōng bèi huó huó shāo sǐ.
They were burned to death alive in the fire.

Origin

Reduplicated word

构词法gòucífǎ

重叠chóngdiéReduplication

A syllable said twice — for affection, for softness, or simply because that is how the word is said.

活huóalive

Repeating 活 stresses that the action happens while the person is still alive.

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

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

𠯑

𠯑𠯑活huó

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

活 is built from 氵 (water) and 𠯑, which shows the sound; 𠯑 later changed into 舌.

Open 活 →