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担保 (dān bǎo) — to guarantee, to vouch for

Definition

担保 means to formally vouch for or back someone with your own responsibility — stronger and more legal than 保证. Use it for loans, contracts, and personal pledges; you can do 担保 (act as guarantor) but not typically 保证 a person in this legal sense.

verb
to guaranteeto vouch for

Examples

  • 担保。
    Tā wèi zhè bǐ dài kuǎn tí gōng dān bǎo.
    He provided a guarantee for this loan.
  • 担保？
    Nǐ néng wèi wǒ zuò dān bǎo ma?
    Can you vouch for me?
  • 。
    Wǒ qiān le yí fèn dān bǎo shū.
    I signed a guarantee letter.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

担dāntake on responsibility
保bǎoguarantee

担 suggests taking on responsibility, and 保 suggests guaranteeing; together they mean to guarantee or vouch for someone or something.

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
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
旦
旦dàn担dàn
Same sound today

In 担, the left part 扌 is the hand, showing that the action involves using the hand. The right part 旦 shows how it sounds.

Open 担 →

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

保 originally showed a person 人 carrying a child 子 on their back, which led to the sense of protecting.

Open 保 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6

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