叮咛 (dīng níng) — to urge or remind someone with care and repetition; to give earnest advice

Definition

Verb for urging or reminding someone with warm, repeated concern — more affectionate than a plain 提醒 ('remind'), which is neutral. Often used for a parent's or elder's earnest advice.

verb
to urge or remind someone with care and repetitionto give earnest advice

Examples

  • 叮咛。
    Mā ma zài sān dīng níng wǒ yào zhù yì ān quán.
    My mother repeatedly urged me to be careful about safety.
  • ，叮咛。
    Lín xíng qián, lǎo shī duì wǒ men dīng níng le jǐ jù.
    Before departure, the teacher gave us a few words of earnest advice.
  • 叮咛。
    Tā de huà chōng mǎn le cí fù de dīng níng.
    His words were full of a loving father's earnest reminders.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

叮dīng
咛níng

叮 and 咛 carry no separate meaning here; together they express earnest urging.

Sound-only characters

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kǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng叮dīng
Same sound today

叮 combines 口, the mouth, with 丁, which gives the sound.

Open 叮 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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