推迟 (tuī chí) — to postpone, to put off, to delay | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

推迟 is a neutral, planned 'postpone' for events with a new date (often paired with 到). 延期 is more formal for extending deadlines; 拖延 implies unnecessary stalling.

verb

to postponeto put offto delay

Examples

推迟。
Tā men jué dìng bǎ hūn lǐ tuī chí dào míng nián.
They decided to postpone the wedding until next year.
，推迟。
Yīn wèi tiān qì bù hǎo, háng bān tuī chí le sān gè xiǎo shí.
Because of bad weather, the flight was delayed by three hours.
推迟。
Wǒ men bù dé bù tuī chí zhè cì lǚ xíng.
We have no choice but to postpone this trip.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

推 means to push, 迟 means late; together they mean to push something to a later time.

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.

扌隹推

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

隹

隹zhuī推tuī

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left side 扌 is a hand, and the right side 隹 gives the sound; the character shows pushing with the hand.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

辶尺迟

Meaning part形符xíngfú

辶Written in full as辵chuòmotion

Sound part声符shēngfú

尺

尺chǐ迟chí

Same sound today

迟 pairs 辶, a walking sign, with 尺, used for the sound.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 4 HSK 2.0 Level 4 Time (Abstract)

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