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套路 (tào lù) — (martial arts/sports) set routine of moves; (colloquial) trick, ploy, routine (often with negative connotation)

Definition

In martial arts (武术), 套路 means a fixed sequence of practiced moves. In everyday speech it means a predictable ploy or "script" someone uses to manipulate you — more cynical than 技巧.

noun
(martial arts/sports) set routine of moves(colloquial) trickployroutine (often with negative connotation)

Examples

  • 套路。
    Zhè ge quán fǎ de tào lù wǒ yǐ jīng liàn le shí nián le.
    I've practiced this martial arts routine for ten years.
  • ，套路。
    Bié xìn tā shuō de, nà quán shì tào lù.
    Don't believe what he says — that's all a trick.
  • ，套路。
    Tā yuē nǐ chī fàn kàn diàn yǐng, jiù shì pǔ tōng de tào lù.
    Him asking you to dinner and a movie is just the usual routine.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

套tàoset
路lùsequence

套路 joins 套, a set, with 路, a patterned sequence, giving a fixed routine of moves or a train of thought.

Characters in this word

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

  • 大大dàlarge
  • 長長chánglong

套 is made from 大 (large) and 長 (long), originally for something long, with some reference to hair; it later came to mean a cover or a linked group.

Open 套 →

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
足足zú
Sound part声符shēngfú
各
各gè路lù
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

路 combines 足, a foot, with 各, which supplies the sound.

Open 路 →
Appears in
Abstract ConceptsSports & Athletics

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