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央求 (yāng qiú) — to beg, to plead, to implore

Definition

央求 (yāngqiú) is a more emotional, urgent 'to beg / implore' — stronger than 请求, with a sense of pleading out of desperation rather than polite asking.

verb
to begto pleadto implore

Examples

  • 央求。
    Tā yāng qiú yī shēng yí dìng yào jiù tā de hái zi.
    He begged the doctor to save his child.
  • 央求。
    Tā yāng qiú lǎo bǎn gěi tā yí gè jī huì.
    She pleaded with her boss to give her a chance.
  • 央求，。
    Wǒ yāng qiú tā bié zǒu, dàn tā hái shì lí kāi le.
    I implored him not to leave, but he still left.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

央yāngplead
求qiúbeg

央 and 求 both carry a pleading sense, so together they mean to beg or implore.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

央 may have originally drawn a man with his neck in shackles. It was borrowed for its sound to write “center,” so that picture is unrelated to the modern meaning.

Open 央 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

求 began as a drawing of a centipede.

Open 求 →
Appears in
Communication & Speech

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