亲历 (qīn lì) — to experience personally; to go through (an eve…

Definition

verb

to experience personallyto go through (an event) firsthand

Examples

亲历，。
Tā qīn lì le nà chǎng zhàn zhēng, gǎn shòu hěn shēn.
He experienced that war personally and felt it deeply.
亲历。
Zhǐ yǒu qīn lì guò de rén cái néng zhēn zhèng lǐ jiě.
Only those who have gone through it firsthand can truly understand.
亲历。
Zhè běn shū jiǎng shù le tā qīn lì de zhǒng zhǒng jīng lì.
This book recounts the various experiences he went through personally.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

亲qīnpersonally

历lìexperience

“亲” means personally, and “历” means to experience; together they mean to experience firsthand.

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 親; 亲 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

見見jiànsee

Sound part声符shēngfú

辛

辛xīn親qīn

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 親 uses 見 (see) for sense and 辛 (a chisel) for sound; the simplified 亲 is a shorthand and its parts are not the historical components.

Open 亲 →

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 歷; 历 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 历 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (简历, 经历) it is 歷; in others (日历) it is 曆.

厤止歷

Meaning part形符xíngfú

止止zhǐ

Sound part声符shēngfú

厤

厤lì歷lì

Same sound today

The form 歷 pairs 止 with the sound part 厤.