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颤抖 (chàn dǒu) — to tremble; to shiver; to shudder

Definition

颤抖 emphasizes involuntary shaking of the body (hands, whole body) from cold, fear, or emotion — stronger and more vivid than 发抖, which is a plainer, more everyday word for trembling.

verb
to trembleto shiverto shudder

Examples

  • 颤抖。
    Lǎo rén lěng dé hún shēn chàn dǒu qǐ lái.
    The old man was so cold that his whole body began to tremble.
  • ，颤抖。
    Tīng dào zhè ge xiāo xi, tā de shǒu kāi shǐ chàn dǒu.
    Upon hearing this news, her hands started to tremble.
  • 颤抖。
    Xiǎo xī biān de shù yè zài fēng zhōng qīng qīng chàn dǒu.
    The leaves by the stream trembled gently in the wind.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

颤chàntremble
抖dǒushake

The characters 颤 and 抖 both describe shaking or trembling, so together they mean to tremble.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 顫; 颤 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
頁頁yèhead
Sound part声符shēngfú
亶
亶dǎn顫chàn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 顫, 頁 shows the head and 亶 supplies the sound; the simplified 颤 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the original components.

Open 颤 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 抖 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Emotions & Feelings

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