屈膝 (qū xī) — to kneel; to bend one's knee (literal); (figura… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Literally 'bend the knee' (kneel down), but most often used figuratively for surrendering or giving in humiliatingly. The examples all show the figurative sense: bowing to pressure rather than the physical act of kneeling.

verb

to kneelto bend one's knee (literal)(figurative) to surrenderto submit humiliatinglyto bow down

Examples

，。
Tā nìng sǐ bù qū xī, jué bú xiàng dí rén dī tóu.
He would rather die than kneel; he will never bow to the enemy.
，。
Wèi le zūn yán, tā cóng wèi qū guò yí cì xī.
For the sake of dignity, he has never once bent his knee.
，屈膝。
Zài yā lì miàn qián, tā zuì zhōng xuǎn zé le qū xī tóu xiáng.
Faced with pressure, he ultimately chose to kneel and surrender.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

屈 means bend and 膝 means knee, so the meaning is to bend the knee.

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

尾尾wěitail

Sound part声符shēngfú

出

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

屈 was built from 出 for sound and 尾 for tail; the tail part later changed into the top of 屈.

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

⺼Written in full as肉ròumeat, body

Sound part声符shēngfú

桼

桼qī膝xī

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

In 膝, ⺼ is the body form of 肉, marking a body part, and 桼 gives the sound.

Appears in

Conflict & Agreement

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