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席卷 (xí juǎn) — (figurative) to sweep across, engulf, take everything; (literal) to roll up and take away, pack one's belongings

Definition

Literally 'roll up like a mat and carry away,' but usually used figuratively to mean a force (crisis, storm, trend) sweeping across and engulfing everything in its path.

verb
(figurative) to sweep acrossengulftake everything(literal) to roll up and take awaypack one's belongings

Examples

  • 席卷，。
    Jīn róng wēi jī xí juǎn quán qiú, hěn duō guó jiā jīng jì dōu shòu dào le yǐng xiǎng.
    The financial crisis swept across the globe, and many countries' economies were affected.
  • 席卷。
    Yì chǎng lóng juǎn fēng xí juǎn le zhěng gè xiǎo zhèn.
    A tornado engulfed the entire town.
  • 席卷。
    Tā cōng cōng xí juǎn le xíng li jiù chū fā le.
    He hastily packed his bags and set off.

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.

席xímat
卷juànroll

席 'mat' gives the image of rolling up like a mat, and 卷 'roll' expresses sweeping across.

Characters in this word

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

席 originally showed a woven mat with an ornament. In 席, the mat became 巾, and a later sound part was written as 庶.

Open 席 →

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
卩卩jiékneeling person
Sound part声符shēngfú
𢍏
𢍏𢍏卷juàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 卷, 卩 shows a kneeling person, while 𢍏 gives the sound and may also suggest bending or rolling, as in a reel of books.

Open 卷 →
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