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履历 (lǚ lì) — (formal) résumé, curriculum vitae; (literary) personal history, background, antecedents; one's life experience

Definition

Formal word for a written résumé or CV (份), focused on work and educational background. Beyond the job-hunt sense, it can also mean a person's overall life history or antecedents.

noun
(formal) résumécurriculum vitae(literary) personal historybackgroundantecedentsone's life experience
Measure word · 份

Examples

  • 履历。
    Qǐng bǎ nǐ de lǚ lì fā dào gōng sī de yóu xiāng.
    Please send your résumé to the company's email.
  • 履历。
    Tā huā le sān tiān shí jiān jīng xīn zhǔn bèi le yí fèn lǚ lì.
    He spent three days carefully preparing a résumé.
  • 履历。
    Tā de lǚ lì xiǎn shì tā zài hǎi wài gōng zuò guò shí nián.
    His résumé shows that he worked abroad for ten years.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

履lǚconduct
历lìexperience

Both “履” and “历” point to personal experience or past conduct, so together they mean a résumé.

Characters in this word

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

Early 履 put together 眉, 頁 (a person with a prominent head), 止 (foot), and 舟 (a shoe or shoe-shaped boat).

Open 履 →

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 歷; 历 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 历 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (简历, 经历) it is 歷; in others (日历) it is 曆.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
止止zhǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
厤
厤lì歷lì
Same sound today

The form 歷 pairs 止 with the sound part 厤.

Open 历 →
Appears in
Workplace & Office

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