涉猎 (shè liè) — to skim (through a book); to read cursorily | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Refers to reading or studying something broadly but only at a surface level. Unlike 浏览 (browsing casually), 涉猎 implies covering many fields lightly, often for breadth rather than information lookup.

verb

to skim (through a book)to read cursorily

Examples

涉猎。
Tā xǐ huan shè liè gè zhǒng lǐng yù de shū jí.
He likes to skim through books in various fields.
涉猎。
Zhè piān lùn wén wǒ zhǐ shì cū lüè shè liè le yí xià.
I only skimmed through this paper briefly.
涉猎？
Nǐ shè liè guò nà běn zhé xué rù mén shū ma?
Have you skimmed through that introductory philosophy book?

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

涉shèwade into

Wading into material and hunting for information gives a sense of skimming rather than deep study.

Characters in this word

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

水水shuǐwater
步步bùwalk

涉 combines 水 (water) and 步 (walk), showing someone walking through water.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

昔

昔xī猎liè

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

In 猎, the left part 犬 means dog and the right part 昔 provides the sound.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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