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私奔 (sī bēn) — to elope

Definition

Literally "run away privately," 私奔 means to elope — a couple leaves together to marry against family wishes. Strongly negative connotation in traditional contexts; rare in everyday speech, mostly literary or historical.

verb
to elope

Examples

  • 私奔，。
    Tā men jué dìng sī bēn, yīn wèi jiā rén bù tóng yì tā men de hūn shì.
    They decided to elope because their families didn't approve of their marriage.
  • ，私奔。
    Zài gǔ dài, sī bēn shì yí jiàn hěn mào xiǎn de shì qing.
    In ancient times, eloping was a very risky thing.
  • 私奔。
    Nà duì liàn rén sī bēn dào le yí gè xiǎo zhèn.
    That couple eloped to a small town.

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
奔bēnrun

“私” gives private and “奔” gives run, so run away privately.

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 →

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

奔 combines 人 (person) and 止 (foot), giving the picture of a person moving on foot.

Open 奔 →
Appears in
Romance & Marriage

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