目睹 (mù dǔ) — to witness, to see with one's own eyes | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

目睹 (mùdǔ) means 'to witness, to see with one's own eyes' — a written/formal verb, stronger than the colloquial 眼看 ('to watch helplessly'). Closest to 见证 but more personal: 目睹 = physically seeing it; 见证 = witnessing as testimony or evidence.

verb

to witnessto see with one's own eyes

Examples

。
Tā qīn yǎn mù dǔ le nà chǎng dì zhèn.
He witnessed that earthquake with his own eyes.
目睹。
Wǒ cóng wèi mù dǔ guò rú cǐ zhuàng guān de jǐng sè.
I have never witnessed such a magnificent scene.
目睹。
Jì zhě mù dǔ le kàng yì de quán guò chéng.
The journalist witnessed the entire protest.

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.

目 (eye) and 睹 (see) together mean seeing something with one's own eyes.

Characters in this word

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

目 began as a drawing of a human eye, turned sideways.

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

目者睹

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

者

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

睹 pairs 目 (eye), related to seeing, with 者 as a part hinting at the sound.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 HSK 2.0 Level 6 Senses

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