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渴求 (kě qiú) — to earnestly desire or demand; to crave

Definition

A strong, earnest verb meaning 'to crave / yearn for' something intangible (knowledge, fairness, recognition). Stronger than 想 and more literary than 渴望, which is a near-synonym verb meaning 'to long for'.

verb
to earnestly desire or demandto crave

Examples

  • 渴求。
    Tā fēi cháng kě qiú zhī shi.
    He is very eager for knowledge.
  • 渴求。
    Rén men kě qiú shè huì de gōng píng yǔ zhèng yì.
    People earnestly demand fairness and justice in society.
  • 渴求。
    Zhè ge tuán duì yì zhí kě qiú xīn de tū pò.
    This team has always been eager for new breakthroughs.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

渴kěthirsty
求qiúseek

渴 means thirsty, and 求 means to seek, so the combined sense is to seek eagerly.

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
曷
曷hé渴kě
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

渴 combines 氵 (water) with 曷 giving the sound. The water part shows dryness or exhaustion of water.

Open 渴 →

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 →
Appears in
Will & Intention

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