遥遥 (yáo yáo) — far away, distant (reduplicated adverb, used in literary or set expressions)

Definition

遥遥 (yáoyáo) is a literary reduplicated adverb meaning 'far away' — used in set phrases like 遥遥领先 ('far ahead') and 遥遥无期 ('no end in sight'), not in everyday speech.

bound form
far awaydistant (reduplicated adverb, used in literary or set expressions)
Easily confused

Examples

  • ，。
    Tā zài bǐ sài zhōng yáo yáo lǐng xiān, méi rén néng zhuī shàng tā.
    He was far ahead in the competition, and no one could catch up to him.
  • ，。
    Zhè ge xiàng mù de wán chéng rì qī yáo yáo wú qī, dà jiā dōu yǒu xiē dān xīn.
    The completion date for this project is still far off, and everyone is a bit worried.
  • 遥遥，。
    Lù tú yáo yáo, wǒ men yào zuò hǎo zhǔn bèi zài chū fā.
    The journey is long and distant; we need to prepare well before setting out.

Origin

Reduplicated word
构词法gòucífǎ
重叠chóngdiéReduplication

A syllable said twice — for affection, for softness, or simply because that is how the word is said.

遥yáodistant
遥yáodistant

遥 means distant; the pair 遥遥 gives the sense of far away.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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