消愁 (xiāo chóu) — to drown one's sorrows; to dispel melancholy | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Literary verb: to dispel or relieve melancholy (愁 'sorrow, worry'). Often paired with 消解 or 解愁, and frequently takes a reduplicated form like 消一消 to mean 'relieve a bit of'.

verb

to drown one's sorrowsto dispel melancholy

Examples

消愁。
Tā yí gè rén hē jiǔ xiāo chóu.
He drinks alone to drown his sorrows.
，。
Tīng le zhè shǒu gē, tā zǒng suàn xiāo le chóu.
After listening to this song, he finally got rid of his worries.
，。
Chū qù zǒu zǒu, xiāo yi xiāo chóu ba.
Go out for a walk and relieve your worries a bit.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

消 means dispel, and 愁 is sorrow, so the action is directed at sorrow.

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.

氵肖消

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

肖

肖xiào消xiāo

Same sound today

消 has 氵 (water) beside 肖. The water part connects to putting out or making something vanish, and 肖 gives the sound.

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

秋心愁

Meaning part形符xíngfú

心心xīnheart

Sound part声符shēngfú

秋

秋qiū愁chóu

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

愁 combines 秋, which gives the sound, with 心, the heart.

Appears in

Emotions & Feelings

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