惊诧 (jīng chà) — surprised; amazed (literary, formal)

Definition

Literary 'surprised, amazed' — stronger than 惊讶 and almost entirely confined to written Chinese. As a stative adjective it typically takes 感到 / 十分 / 非常 rather than the degree word 很.

adjective
surprisedamazed (literary, formal)

Examples

  • 惊诧。
    Tā duì zhè ge xiāo xi gǎn dào fēi cháng jīng chà.
    He was very amazed at this news.
  • ，惊诧。
    Tīng dào zhè ge jié guǒ, dà jiā dōu shí fēn jīng chà.
    Hearing this result, everyone was quite astonished.
  • 惊诧。
    Jì zhě zài cǎi fǎng zhōng biǎo dá le jīng chà.
    The journalist expressed amazement during the interview.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

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

惊jīngsurprise
诧chàsurprise

惊 and 诧 both mean surprise, together expressing amazement.

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xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
京
京jīng惊jīng
Same sound today

惊 is made from 忄 (heart) and 京, which gives the sound.

Open 惊 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 诧 →

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