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复原 (fù yuán) — to restore (sth) to its original state; to reconstruct; to recover (from illness or damage)

Definition

复原 emphasizes physical repair — piecing something broken back to its original form (artifacts, photos, health). 比 恢复 more concrete, less abstract than 还原. Use 康复 for recovering health alone.

verb
to restore (sth) to its original stateto reconstructto recover (from illness or damage)

Examples

  • 复原。
    Kǎo gǔ xué jiā zhèng zài nǔ lì fù yuán zhè xiē pò suì de táo qì.
    The archaeologists are working hard to restore these broken pottery pieces.
  • 复原。
    Tā shǒu shù hòu shēn tǐ hěn kuài jiù fù yuán le.
    His body recovered quickly after the surgery.
  • 复原。
    Zhè zhāng jiù zhào piàn jīng guò xiū tú ruǎn jiàn fù yuán hòu qīng xī duō le.
    This old photo became much clearer after being restored using image editing software.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

复fùrestore
原yuánoriginal

复 means restore and 原 means original, so something restores its original state.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 復; 复 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 复 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (复习, 恢复) it is 復; in others (复印, 复杂) (答复, 反复) it is 複 or 覆.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
彳彳chìwalk
Sound part声符shēngfú
复
复fù復fù
Same sound today

The traditional form 復 combines 彳, a walking part, with 复, a sound part, to show walking back and forth.

Open 复 →

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

原 combines 泉 (spring) and 厂 (cliff), picturing a spring bursting from a cliff-side, which gives the sense of origin or source.

Open 原 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Change & Process

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