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私仇 (sī chóu) — personal enmity, grudge

Definition

A private grudge carried by an individual — personal and emotional, as opposed to 公仇 or 公愤 (public, collective grievance). Often contrasts with 国家 or institutional conflict.

noun
personal enmitygrudge

Examples

  • 私仇。
    Tā yīn wèi sī chóu yì zhí bù xǐ huan nà ge rén.
    He has always disliked that person because of a personal grudge.
  • 私仇，。
    Zhè bù sī chóu shì, ér shì wèi le wéi hù zhèng yì.
    This is not a personal grudge, but rather to uphold justice.
  • 私仇。
    sī chóu Bú yīng gāi yǐng xiǎng dào gōng zuò.
    Personal enmity should not affect work.

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.

私sīprivate
仇chóuenmity

私 means personal and 仇 means enmity, yielding a private grudge.

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
禾禾hé
Sound part声符shēngfú
厶
厶sī私sī
Same sound today

私 combines 禾 and 厶; 厶 originally represented the word, and 禾 was added later.

Open 私 →

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
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
九
九jiǔ仇⁰qiú
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

仇 has 亻, a person, and 九, which gives the sound.

Open 仇 →
Appears in
Conflict & Agreement

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