醒悟 (xǐng wù) — to come to realize (the truth); to wake up to r… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

醒悟 means to suddenly realize a truth or reality you were blind to. It's more about a specific awakening than 觉悟 (ongoing political/ideological awareness) and more concrete than 感悟 (insight from reflection).

verb

to come to realize (the truth)to wake up to reality

Examples

，醒悟。
Jīng lì zhè cì shī bài hòu, tā zhōng yú xǐng wù le.
After this failure, he finally came to realize.
，醒悟。
Tīng le tā de quàn gào, wǒ cái xǐng wù guò lái.
Only after hearing her advice did I wake up to reality.
醒悟。
Tā hòu huǐ méi yǒu zǎo diǎn xǐng wù.
He regrets not having realized sooner.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

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

悟wùrealize

醒 means wake and 悟 means realize; together they give coming to see the truth.

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.

酉星醒

Meaning part形符xíngfú

酉酉yǒualcohol

Sound part声符shēngfú

星

星xīng醒xǐng

Same sound today

醒 combines 酉, which stands for alcohol, with 星, which gives the sound.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

忄吾悟

Meaning part形符xíngfú

忄Written in full as心xīn

Sound part声符shēngfú

吾

Same sound today

悟 is made from 忄, a side form of 心, and 吾, which supplies the sound.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Thinking & Cognition

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