有趣 (yǒu qù) — interesting, fascinating, amusing

Definition

A neutral, all-purpose 'interesting' for people, things, or situations. 迷人和引人入胜 are stronger ('fascinating'), while 好玩儿 leans toward fun-to-do; 有意思 is the most casual spoken equivalent.

adjective

interestingfascinatingamusing

Examples

有趣。
Zhè běn shū hěn yǒu qù.
This book is very interesting.
有趣。
Zhè ge diàn yǐng zhēn yǒu qù.
This movie is really interesting.
有趣。
Tā shuō huà hěn yǒu qù.
He speaks in an interesting way.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

有yǒuhave

趣qùinterest

有 (have) and 趣 (interest) combine: having interest, so amusing.

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

肉肉ròumeat

Sound part声符shēngfú

又

又yòu有yǒu

Same sound today

The form 有 combines 又, used for its sound, with a shape from 肉, 'meat'; the hand-holding-meat story is a folk explanation, not shown in the oldest shape.

Open 有 →

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

走取趣

Meaning part形符xíngfú

走走zǒuwalk

Sound part声符shēngfú

取

取qǔ趣qù

Same sound today

趣 has 走, showing walking or hurrying, and 取, which gives the sound; the shape points to moving toward something.

Open 趣 →

Appears in