口误 (kǒu wù) — to make a slip of the tongue; to accidentally s… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A slip of the tongue — saying the wrong word or name by accident. Refers to the slip itself as well as the act of making one, as in 他演讲时口误了好几次.

verb

to make a slip of the tongueto accidentally say something wrong

Examples

口误。
Tā jīn tiān yǎn jiǎng shí kǒu wù le liǎng cì.
He made two slips of the tongue during his speech today.
口误。
Wǒ zài jiè shào tā shí kǒu wù bǎ míng zì shuō cuò le.
When introducing him, I made a slip of the tongue and said the wrong name.
口误，。
Tā kǒu wù le hǎo jǐ cì, dà jiā dōu xiào le.
He made several slips of the tongue, and everyone laughed.

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.

口 means mouth and 误 means err, describing the mouth making a slip.

Characters in this word

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

The form 口 looks like an open mouth.

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 誤; 误 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

言言yánspeech

Sound part声符shēngfú

吳

吳wú誤wù

Same sound today

The traditional form 誤 uses 言 (speech) for meaning and 吳 for sound, giving the idea of speaking an error; the simplified 误 is a later shorthand.

Appears in

Communication & Speech

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