忠贞不渝 (zhōng zhēn bù yú) — unswervingly loyal; faithful and unchanging

Definition

A formal four-character idiom meaning 'unswervingly loyal and faithful.' Used in writing for devotion to country, ideals, or lifelong relationships — stronger and more literary than simply saying 忠诚.

idiom
unswervingly loyalfaithful and unchanging

Examples

  • 忠贞不渝，。
    Tā duì zǔ guó zhōng zhēn bù yú, yì shēng dōu zài wèi guó jiā fèn dòu.
    He is unswervingly loyal to his motherland and has struggled for the country all his life.
  • ，忠贞不渝。
    Zhè duì fū qī jié hūn wǔ shí nián, gǎn qíng zhōng zhēn bù yú.
    This couple has been married for fifty years, and their affection is unswervingly loyal.
  • ，忠贞不渝。
    Zài kùn nan miàn qián, tā shǐ zhōng bǎo chí zhōng zhēn bù yú de xìn niàn.
    In the face of difficulties, he always maintains an unswervingly loyal faith.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

忠贞loyal and faithful
忠zhōngloyal贞zhēnfaithful
联合Side by side
不渝not change
不bùnot渝yúchange
偏正Modifier + head

Loyalty and steadfastness that do not change describe unwavering faithfulness.

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
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
中
中zhōng忠zhōng
Same sound today

忠 pairs 心, meaning heart, with 中, which gives its sound.

Open 忠 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 貞; 贞 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 貞 grew from a picture of a ding tripod, later changed for divination, and its lower part became unrelated to that picture; the simplified 贞 is a shorthand.

Open 贞 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

Open 不 →

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
水水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
俞
俞yú渝yú
Same sound today

渝 is built from 水, meaning "water", plus 俞, which gives the sound yú.

Open 渝 →

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