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如何 (rú hé) — how; in what way

Definition

Formal written 'how', typical in questions about methods (如何解决, 如何学习). 怎样 is the everyday spoken equivalent; 何等 is literary, used in exclamations.

pronoun
howin what way

Examples

  • 如何？
    Nǐ rú hé xué xí hàn yǔ?
    How do you study Chinese?
  • ，如何？
    Qǐng wèn, zhè ge wèn tí rú hé jiě jué?
    Excuse me, how do we solve this problem?
  • 如何。
    Wǒ bú tài míng bai yīng gāi rú hé chǔ lǐ zhè jiàn shì.
    I'm not quite sure how I should handle this matter.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

如rúlike
何héwhat

如 gives the sense of resembling, and 何 asks what, together meaning how.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
口口kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
女
女nǚ如rú
Same sound today

如 is built from 口 (mouth) for its meaning and 女 (woman) for its sound.

Open 如 →

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

The old form of 何 drew a person carrying something on their shoulder. If the carried thing was a 戈, the 人 and 戈 parts together showed that picture.

Open 何 →
Appears in
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