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要约 (yào yuē) — (legal) offer; a proposal to form a contract

Definition

Legal term for a formal 'offer' — a proposal to enter a contract that can be accepted to form a binding agreement. Used in contracts and commercial law; the everyday 要 'want/need' is unrelated.

verb
(legal) offera proposal to form a contract

Examples

  • 要约。
    Duì fāng jiē shòu le wǒ men de yào yuē.
    The other party accepted our offer.
  • 要约。
    Zhè ge yào yuē zài yǒu xiào qī nèi bù néng chè xiāo.
    This offer cannot be revoked within the validity period.
  • 要约。
    yào yuē De nèi róng bì xū míng què jù tǐ.
    The content of the offer must be clear and specific.

Origin

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 約; 约 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糸糸mìrope
Sound part声符shēngfú
勺
勺sháo約yuē
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 約 uses 糸, a rope, for its meaning and 勺 for its sound; the simplified 约 is a later shorthand.

Open 约 →
Appears in
Law & Justice

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