叫醒 (jiào xǐng) — to wake (someone) up, to awaken | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

叫醒 (jiào xǐng) is a separable verb meaning 'to wake someone up' — you SPLIT it with a complement (叫三次叫不醒, 叫了他三次). The subject is the person doing the waking; the person woken takes 把 or follows directly.

verb

to wake (someone) upto awaken

Examples

叫醒。
Wǒ měi tiān zǎo shàng liù diǎn jiào xǐng tā.
I wake him up at six every morning.
，叫醒。
Tā shuì dé tài chén le, zěn me jiào dōu jiào xǐng bù xǐng.
He slept so deeply that no amount of calling could wake him up.
叫醒，。
Wǒ jiào xǐng le tā sān cì, tā cái màn màn zhēng kāi yǎn jing.
I called to wake him up three times before he slowly opened his eyes.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

叫 (call) and 醒 (awake) combine to express calling someone until awake.

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.

口丩叫

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.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

酉星醒

Meaning part形符xíngfú

酉酉yǒualcohol

Sound part声符shēngfú

星

星xīng醒xǐng

Same sound today

醒 combines 酉, which stands for alcohol, with 星, which gives the sound.

Appears in

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