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下落不明 (xià luò bù míng) — (fixed expression) whereabouts unknown; missing (formal or journalistic style)

Definition

A formal/journalistic idiom meaning a person or thing's current location cannot be found. Common in police reports, news, and missing-person notices.

idiom
(fixed expression) whereabouts unknownmissing (formal or journalistic style)

Examples

  • 下落不明。
    Jǐng chá hái zài xún zhǎo nà ge xià luò bù míng de hái zi.
    The police are still looking for that missing child.
  • 下落不明，。
    Nà jià fēi jī xià luò bù míng, dà jiā dōu hěn dān xīn.
    That plane is missing; everyone is very worried.
  • 下落不明，。
    Tā de xíng li xià luò bù míng, yǐ jīng xiàng jī chǎng bào gào le.
    His luggage is missing; he already reported it to the airport.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

下落whereabouts
下xiàdown落luòfall
联合Coordinate
不明not clear
不bùnot明míngclear
偏正Modifier + head

下落 means whereabouts and 不明 means not clear, so it says someone's whereabouts are not clear.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

下 is drawn as a short horizontal line below a long curved line.

Open 下 →

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
艹Written in full as艸cǎo
Sound part声符shēngfú
洛
洛luò落luò
Same sound today

落 pairs 艹 with 洛; 洛 gives the sound, and 艹 relates to the meaning.

Open 落 →

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

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

Open 不 →

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

明 combines 日 (sun) and 月 (moon), showing the sun just rising while the moon has not yet set, or two bright objects in the sky, to express brightness.

Open 明 →
Appears in
Idioms & Set Phrases

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