求偶 (qiú ǒu) — to court; to seek a mate

Definition

Literary/scientific verb meaning 'to court, to seek a mate' — used for animals in biology and for romantic pursuit in literary writing. Register is formal, far more elevated than everyday dating vocabulary like 约会.

verb
to courtto seek a mate

Examples

  • 求偶。
    Xióng niǎo tōng guò chàng gē lái qiú ǒu.
    Male birds court by singing.
  • 求偶。
    Tā wèi le qiú ǒu huā le hěn duō shí jiān dǎ bàn zì jǐ.
    He spent a lot of time dressing up in order to court.
  • 。
    Zhè zhī kǒng què qiú le yí cì ǒu jiù chéng gōng le.
    This peacock succeeded after courting once.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

求qiúseek
偶ǒumate

求 and 偶 describe seeking a mate.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

求 began as a drawing of a centipede.

Open 求 →

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
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
禺
禺yú偶ǒu
Same sound today

偶 pairs 亻 (person) with 禺 for the sound. The evidence describes it as a statue of a person, an idol.

Open 偶 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.