支援 (zhī yuán) — to support, to assist, to provide aid | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

支援 emphasizes sending concrete aid (personnel, resources, money) to help a party in need. Broader than 救援 (emergency rescue); more tangible than 支持 (general backing or approval).

verb

to supportto assistto provide aid

Examples

支援。
Guó jì shè huì fēn fēn zhī yuán shòu zāi dì qū.
The international community has provided support to the disaster-stricken areas.
支援。
Wǒ men zhī yuán nǐ men wán chéng zhè ge rèn wu.
We support you in completing this task.
支援。
Gōng sī jué dìng zhī yuán zhè ge gōng yì xiàng mù.
The company decided to support this public welfare project.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

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

支zhīsupport

支 means to support and 援 means to aid, so together they mean to provide help or back someone.

Characters in this word

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

又十支

又又yòuhand
十竹zhú(half of {{zh-l|*竹}}) branch of bamboo

支 pairs 又 (hand) with 十, a shortened form of 竹 (bamboo), to picture a bamboo branch.

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

扌爰援

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

爰

爰yuán援yuán

Same sound today

In 援, the left 扌 (written fully as 手) is a hand, and the right 爰 tells you how it sounds.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 HSK 2.0 Level 6 Society & Public Life 5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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