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耽搁 (dān ge) — to delay; to hold up; to stop over; to stay temporarily

Definition

耽搁 covers two senses: a delay that holds up plans or progress (cf. 耽误, more about wasting time), and a brief stop on a journey (close to 停留, but implies an unplanned pause rather than a chosen stay).

verb
to delayto hold upto stop overto stay temporarily

Examples

  • ，耽搁。
    Yīn wèi tiān qì bù hǎo, fēi jī dān ge le yí gè xiǎo shí.
    The flight was delayed for an hour because of bad weather.
  • ，耽搁。
    Zhè jiàn shì hěn jí, bù néng zài dān ge le.
    This matter is urgent and can't be delayed any further.
  • 耽搁，。
    Tā zài nán jīng dān ge le liǎng tiān, shùn biàn kàn le jǐ gè péng you.
    He stopped over in Nanjing for two days and visited a few friends while he was at it.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

耽dāndelay
搁gēstop

耽 means delay and 搁 means stop or hold up; together they mean to delay or stay temporarily.

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
耳耳ěr
Sound part声符shēngfú
冘
冘yóu耽dān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

耽 has 耳 (ear) as its meaning part and 冘 as its sound part.

Open 耽 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 搁 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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