闹革命 (nào gé mìng) — to carry out a revolution; to make revolution

Definition

A verbal phrase: 闹 means 'to carry out / stage', so 闹革命 literally means 'to carry out a revolution'. It's used for actively waging or making revolution, not the abstract concept of 革命 itself.

verb
to carry out a revolutionto make revolution

Examples

  • 闹革命。
    Nóng mín men jué dìng nào gé mìng.
    The peasants decided to make a revolution.
  • 。
    Tā men nào le sān cì gé mìng cái chéng gōng.
    They succeeded only after staging three revolutions.
  • 。
    Yé ye nián qīng shí nào guò gé mìng.
    Grandpa made revolution when he was young.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 鬧; 闹 is its simplified writing.

  • 鬥鬥dòuto fight
  • 市市shìmarket; town

The traditional form 鬧 combines 鬥 (to fight) and 市 (market; town) to mean noisy.

Open 闹 →

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

革 is drawn as a stretched animal hide, with the upper part as the head and the lower part as the tail and legs.

Open 革 →

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
口口kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
令
令lìng命mìng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

命 combines 口, a mouth, with 令, which gives the sound.

Open 命 →

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