直观 (zhí guān) — intuitive, easy to understand at a glance; directly perceived through the senses; visual (as in a diagram or demonstration)

Definition

An adjective meaning 'intuitive, visually obvious' — something easy to grasp at a glance (a diagram, demo, or explanation). Don't confuse with the noun 视觉 ('vision' as a sense); 直观 describes how clearly something is perceived, not the sense itself.

adjective
intuitiveeasy to understand at a glancedirectly perceived through the sensesvisual (as in a diagram or demonstration)

Examples

  • 直观,。
    Zhè ge jiào xué ruǎn jiàn shè jì dé hěn zhí guān, xué shēng yí yòng jiù huì.
    This educational software is designed to be very intuitive — students can use it right away.
  • 直观。
    Diào chá bào gào yòng zhí guān de tú biǎo dài tì le wén zì shuō míng.
    The survey report used visual charts instead of textual explanations.
  • 直观。
    Lǎo shī cóng zhí guān de jiǎo dù jiě shì le zhè dào nán tí.
    The teacher explained this difficult problem from an intuitive perspective.

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.

直zhídirect
观guānobserve

直 means direct, and 观 means to observe; together they describe direct observation or something easily seen.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The earliest form of 直 pairs 目, an eye, with an unclear stroke 丨.

Open 直 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 觀; 观 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
見見jiànsee
Sound part声符shēngfú
雚
雚guàn觀guān
Same sound today

The traditional form 觀 uses 見 (see) for meaning and 雚 for sound.

Open 观 →

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