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总之 (zǒng zhī) — in a word, in short, in brief

Definition

总之 marks a summary or conclusion of what was just said. It is a common, everyday connector; 总而言之 is a more formal, written-sounding variant of the same idea.

conjunction
in a wordin shortin brief

Examples

  • 总之，。
    zǒng zhī, Zhè ge jì huà xíng bù tōng.
    In short, this plan won't work.
  • 总之，。
    zǒng zhī, Wǒ men dé xiǎng bàn fǎ jiě jué zhè ge wèn tí.
    In a word, we need to find a way to solve this problem.
  • 总之，。
    zǒng zhī, Duō liàn xí cái néng jìn bù.
    In brief, only with more practice can you improve.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

总zǒngsum up
之zhīit

总 contributes summing up and 之 refers to the matter, so the word means in short.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 總; 总 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糸糸mìrope
Sound part声符shēngfú
悤
悤cōng總zǒng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 總 has 糸, a rope, and 悤 as a sound part; the rope part is for binding together. This account is for 總, not for 总.

Open 总 →

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

The shape pairs 止, a foot, with 一, a beginning place, and means to go.

Open 之 →

Grammar

Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5HSK 2.0 Level 53000 Most Frequent Chinese Words5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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