TongTong
Sign in

迎合 (yíng hé) — to cater to, to pander to

Definition

迎合 means to cater or pander to others' tastes or opinions, often with a negative tone of sacrificing one's own stance. Unlike 迁就 (yielding to keep peace), 迎合 implies active flattery of preferences.

verb
to cater toto pander to

Examples

  • 迎合。
    Zhè ge guǎng gào wán quán yíng hé le nián qīng rén de kǒu wèi.
    This advertisement completely caters to young people's tastes.
  • 迎合，。
    Tā shuō huà zǒng shì yíng hé shàng si de yì si, ràng rén fǎn gǎn.
    He always panders to his boss's opinions when speaking, which is off-putting.
  • 迎合，。
    Wèi le yíng hé shì chǎng xū qiú, gōng sī tuī chū le xīn chǎn pǐn.
    To cater to market demand, the company launched a new product.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

迎yíngwelcome
合héfit

迎 (welcome) and 合 (fit) work together to mean matching someone's wishes.

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
辶Written in full as辵chuò
Sound part声符shēngfú
卬
卬áng迎yíng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

迎 is made of 辶 (written fully as 辵) for the meaning and 卬 for the sound.

Open 迎 →

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

合 shows 亼 and 口 arranged as two mouths speaking together.

Open 合 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Attitudes & Opinions

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.