犯愁 (fàn chóu) — to worry, to be anxious | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

犯愁 means 'to worry / be anxious' over something specific and is more colloquial than 忧虑. As a separable verb, 犯 + 愁 can split — e.g. 犯什么愁?

verb

to worryto be anxious

Easily confused

范畴fàn chóusound-alike(philosophy, logic) category; fundamental grouping that defines a field of inquiry

Examples

犯愁，。
Bié wèi qián fàn chóu le, wǒ men huì yǒu bàn fǎ de.
Don't worry about money; we'll figure something out.
犯愁。
Tā zuì jìn zǒng fàn chóu zhǎo bú dào hǎo gōng zuò.
She's been worrying lately about not finding a good job.
犯愁。
Yì xiǎng dào kǎo shì tā jiù fàn chóu.
As soon as he thinks about the exam, he worries.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

犯, to incur, and 愁, worry, combine to mean falling into worry.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

𢎘

𢎘𢎘犯fàn

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

犯 combines 犬 and 𢎘: 犬 gives the meaning, and 𢎘 gives the sound.

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

秋心愁

Meaning part形符xíngfú

心心xīnheart

Sound part声符shēngfú

秋

秋qiū愁chóu

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

愁 combines 秋, which gives the sound, with 心, the heart.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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