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要强 (yào qiáng) — strong-willed; eager to excel; competitive

Definition

要强 describes a personality trait: someone who is competitive and eager to do better than others. It overlaps with 坚强 ('firm, resilient in hardship') but focuses on ambition rather than endurance.

adjective
strong-willedeager to excelcompetitive

Examples

  • 要强。
    Tā yào qiáng de xìng gé ràng tā zài shì yè shàng qǔ dé le hěn dà de chéng gōng.
    Her strong-willed personality has brought her great success in her career.
  • 要强。
    yào qiáng De rén bèi dà jiā rèn wéi hěn yǒu yì lì.
    Strong-willed people are considered to have a lot of perseverance.
  • ，要强，。
    Tā suī rán kǎo shì méi kǎo hǎo, dàn hái shì hěn yào qiáng, jì xù nǔ lì.
    Although he didn't do well on the exam, he was still strong-willed and continued to work hard.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

要yàowant
强qiángstrong

要 expresses wanting, and 强 brings strength or superiority; together they describe someone eager to get ahead.

Characters in this word

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

要 began as a drawing of a person with both hands pointing to the waist.

Open 要 →

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 強; 强 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 強 pairs an insect component with a sound component; this explains 強, not the simplified 强.

Open 强 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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