坠落 (zhuì luò) — to fall (from a height), to drop (down) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

坠落 is 'to fall (from a height), to plunge down' — typically sudden, uncontrolled falls of objects or people from high up, unlike 降落 (controlled landing/descent of aircraft or weather) or 跌 (a person stumbling/tumbling).

verb

to fall (from a height)to drop (down)

Examples

坠落。
Yì kē liú xīng cóng tiān kōng zhuì luò.
A meteor fell from the sky.
坠落。
Tā bù xiǎo xīn cóng gāo chù zhuì luò shòu shāng le.
He accidentally fell from a height and got injured.
坠落，。
Dà lóu de bō li chuāng zhuì luò xià lái, zá huài le qì chē.
The glass window of the building fell down and smashed the car.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

坠落 combines 坠 'fall' and 落 'drop' as parallel actions to mean falling from a height.

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.

队土坠

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

队

队duì坠zhuì

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

坠 combines 土, an earth-related part, with 队, which gives the sound.

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

艹洛落

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艹Written in full as艸cǎo

Sound part声符shēngfú

洛

洛luò落luò

Same sound today

落 pairs 艹 with 洛; 洛 gives the sound, and 艹 relates to the meaning.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Change & Process

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