波及 (bō jí) — to spread to, to involve, to affect | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

波及 (bōjí) is a formal verb for an event's negative effects spreading outward to reach people or areas. Stronger and more literary than 影响; unlike 涉及 (which concerns a topic), 波及 marks actual harm reaching new targets.

verb

to spread toto involveto affect

Examples

波及。
Zhàn zhēng bō jí le xǔ duō wú gū de píng mín.
The war affected many innocent civilians.
波及。
Zhè chǎng yì qíng bō jí le quán qiú.
This pandemic has spread to the whole world.
波及。
Jīn róng wēi jī de fù miàn yǐng xiǎng bō jí dào le zhōng xiǎo qǐ yè.
The negative impact of the financial crisis reached small and medium-sized enterprises.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

波 means wave and 及 means reach; together they name spreading to affect something.

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.

氵皮波

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

皮

皮pí波bō

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left side 氵 is water, and the right side 皮 gives the sound.

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

人人rénperson
又又yòuhand

及 pairs 人 (person) with 又 (hand), showing a hand grabbing a person.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Change & Process

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