入港 (rù gǎng) — to enter the harbor (of a ship); (colloquial) to be in full agreement; to hit it off; (colloquial) to fall into a trap; to be caught

Definition

Literally 'to enter harbor' (of a ship), but colloquially means two people or ideas click and mesh perfectly — 'hit it off' or 'be in full agreement.' Don't confuse with the extended slang sense of falling into a trap.

verb
to enter the harbor (of a ship)(colloquial) to be in full agreementto hit it off(colloquial) to fall into a trapto be caught

Examples

  • 入港。
    Chuán yǐ jīng rù gǎng le.
    The ship has already entered the harbor.
  • 入港，。
    Tā men liǎ yì liáo jiù rù gǎng, tè bié tóu yuán.
    The two of them hit it off as soon as they started talking.
  • ，。
    Tā tài tān xīn, jié guǒ rù le bié rén de gǎng.
    He was too greedy and ended up falling into someone else's trap.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

入rùenter
港gǎngharbor

入 means enter, 港 means harbor; together it means a ship entering harbor.

Characters in this word

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

入 is drawn as an arrowhead, indicating 'to enter'.

Open 入 →

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
水水shuǐriver; water
Sound part声符shēngfú
巷
巷xiàng港gǎng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

港 uses 水 (river; water) to show its meaning and 巷 to give its sound.

Open 港 →

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