叫绝 (jiào jué) — to acclaim; to applaud; to praise highly

Definition

叫绝 means to acclaim something as absolutely outstanding, almost always in the set phrase 拍案叫绝 or 令人叫绝. The 单 character 叫 alone just means 'to call/shout'; 绝 adds the sense of 'matchless' — together they praise something as the best of its kind.

verb
to acclaimto applaudto praise highly

Examples

  • 叫绝。
    Zhè chǎng biǎo yǎn lìng rén jiào jué.
    This performance is breathtaking.
  • 。
    Tā de shū fǎ jì qiǎo ràng rén pāi àn jiào jué.
    His calligraphy skills make people applaud with admiration.
  • 叫绝。
    Guān zhòng wèi tā men de jīng cǎi yǎn chū bú duàn jiào jué.
    The audience kept acclaiming their wonderful performance.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

叫jiàocall out
绝juésuperb

叫 means to call out and 绝 means superb; together they picture exclaiming that something is superb.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
口口kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
丩
丩jiū叫jiào
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

叫 shows a mouth 口 and a sound part 丩. The mouth fits the old sense of shouting.

Open 叫 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 絕; 绝 is its simplified writing.

In the traditional form 絕, 刀 (knife) and 幺 (silk) show a knife cutting silk threads. The simplified 绝 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the original picture.

Open 绝 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.