骄傲 (jiāo ào) — (adjective, noun) proud, pride (positive sense: feeling worthy of honor); (adjective, noun) arrogant, arrogance (negative sense: excessive self-esteem)

Definition

骄傲 covers both senses: feeling worthy of honor (e.g. 我为祖国感到骄傲) and excessive self-esteem ('arrogant'). For the positive 'proud of', 自豪 is more formal; 得意 is smugly pleased with oneself. 傲慢 is purely negative arrogance.

(adjective, noun) proudpride (positive sense: feeling worthy of honor)(adjective, noun) arrogantarrogance (negative sense: excessive self-esteem)

Examples

  • 骄傲。
    Wǒ wèi wǒ de chéng jì gǎn dào jiāo ào.
    I feel proud of my grades.
  • 骄傲，。
    Nǐ tài jiāo ào le, zhè yàng bù hǎo.
    You are too arrogant; that's not good.
  • 骄傲。
    Zhè shì wǒ men guó jiā de jiāo ào.
    This is the pride of our country.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

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

骄jiāoproud
傲àoarrogant

骄 and 傲 both carry pride or arrogance, giving a sense of proud or conceited.

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 驕; 骄 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
馬馬mǎhorse
Sound part声符shēngfú
喬
喬qiáo驕jiāo
Same sound today

The traditional form 驕 pairs 馬 (horse) with 喬 for the sound; the simplified 骄 is a later shorthand.

Open 骄 →

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
人人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
敖
敖áo傲ào
Same sound today

傲 combines 人, meaning person, with 敖, which gives the sound.

Open 傲 →
Appears in
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