控告 (kòng gào) — to accuse, to charge, to indict | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

控告 is a formal legal verb: 'to formally accuse / charge / indict' someone of a crime. Stronger and more legal-procedural than 指控 (formal accusation, often pre-charge);起诉 is 'to sue/prosecute' — the next step after a 控告.

verb

to accuseto chargeto indict

Examples

控告。
Tā bèi kòng gào tōu qiè.
He was accused of theft.
控告。
Tā kòng gào lín jū sāo rǎo tā.
She accused her neighbor of harassing her.
控告。
Gōng sī kòng gào jìng zhēng duì shǒu qīn fàn zhuān lì.
The company sued its competitor for patent infringement.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

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

控 (accuse) and 告 (report) combine to express formally charging someone with wrongdoing.

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.

扌空控

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒu

Sound part声符shēngfú

空

空kōng控kòng

Same sound today

The left part is 手 written as 扌, showing a hand; the right part 空 gives the sound.

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

壴壴zhù
口口kǒu

The origin is unclear: one theory sees 告 as 壴 (a decorated drum) above 口 (an open mouth), while another sees a tongue sticking out of 口.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Law & Justice 5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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