仇人 (chóu rén) — personal enemy | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A personal enemy — someone with a private grudge against you, tied to 仇 'hatred'. 敌人 is the broader 'enemy' (a state, army, or opponent); 仇人 emphasizes a personal feud.

noun

personal enemy

Measure word · 个

Examples

仇人，。
Tā hé wǒ shì chóu rén, wǒ men cóng bù shuō huà.
He and I are enemies; we never speak.
仇人。
Tā yīn yí gè wù huì chéng le wǒ de chóu rén.
He became my enemy because of a misunderstanding.
仇人。
chóu rén Wǎng wǎng hěn nán biàn chéng péng you.
Enemies are often very hard to become friends.

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.

仇 carries enmity and 人 adds the idea of a person, together naming an enemy.

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.

亻九仇

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rénperson

Sound part声符shēngfú

九

九jiǔ仇⁰qiú

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

仇 has 亻, a person, and 九, which gives the sound.

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Friends & Social People (General)

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