挑错 (tiāo cuò) — to deliberately find fault with someone; to nit… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

挑错 means deliberately picking out other people's mistakes — it carries a negative, fault-finding tone. Colloquial synonym 挑毛病 is more casual; more formal/literary is 指摘.

verb

to deliberately find fault with someoneto nitpick

Examples

，。
Jīng lǐ zài huì shàng tiāo le bù shǎo cuò, dà jiā dōu hěn jǐn zhāng.
The manager picked out many faults at the meeting, and everyone was very nervous.
，。
Tā zǒng shì xǐ huan tiāo bié rén de cuò, ràng rén hěn bù shū fu.
He always likes to find fault in others, making people very uncomfortable.
挑错，。
Bié zǒng shì tiāo cuò, duō gěi bié rén yì diǎn gǔ lì bǐ jiào hǎo.
Don't always find fault; it's better to give others more encouragement.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

挑tiāopick out

错cuòmistake

挑 means pick out and 错 means mistake, hence finding faults.

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

手手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

兆

兆zhào挑tiāo

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

挑 has 手, meaning hand, and 兆, which gives the sound.

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 錯; 错 is its simplified writing.

金昔錯

Meaning part形符xíngfú

金金jīnmetal

Sound part声符shēngfú

昔

昔xī錯cuò

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 錯 pairs 金 (metal) with 昔 as a sound part; the simplified 错 is a later abbreviation.

Appears in

Conflict & Agreement

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