敌意 (dí yì) — hostility, enmity | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

hostilityenmity

敌意。
Tā duì wǒ de tài dù chōng mǎn le dí yì.
His attitude towards me was full of hostility.
敌意。
Liǎng guó zhī jiān de dí yì zhèng zài màn màn jiǎn shǎo.
The hostility between the two countries is gradually decreasing.
敌意。
Tā shuō huà shí dài zhe míng xiǎn de dí yì.
When he spoke, he carried obvious hostility.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

敌díhostile

意yìfeeling

The 敌 sense of hostile joins with 意 as feeling to mean enmity.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 敵; 敌 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

攴攴pūto tap; to hit

Sound part声符shēngfú

啻

啻chì敵dí

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

The traditional form 敵 pairs 啻 as a sound part with 攴, a part for tapping or hitting.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Appears in