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快速 (kuài sù) — fast; rapid; high-speed

Definition

快速 emphasizes the speed of an action or process; it modifies verbs (快速地跑) more naturally than the plain 快, which is also used as an adverb meaning 'soon'.

adjective
fastrapidhigh-speed

Examples

  • 。
    Zhè liè huǒ chē hěn kuài sù.
    This train is very fast.
  • 快速。
    Tā kuài sù dì pǎo huí le jiā.
    He ran back home quickly.
  • 快速。
    Wǒ men xū yào kuài sù zuò chū jué dìng.
    We need to make a decision quickly.

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.

快kuàiquick
速sùspeed

快 says quick, and 速 says speed, so the word means fast or high-speed.

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
忄Written in full as心xīn
Sound part声符shēngfú
夬
夬guài快kuài
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

快 pairs the left part 忄 (full form 心, the heart) with the right part 夬, which gives the sound.

Open 快 →

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
辵辵chuò
Sound part声符shēngfú
束
束shù速sù
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

速 pairs 辵, the walking part, with 束, which is used for its sound; the walking part fits the meaning of moving fast.

Open 速 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 45000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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