TongTong
Sign in

激励 (jī lì) — to encourage; to motivate

Definition

激励 means to motivate or spur someone on — stronger and more about driving action than 鼓励 (softer, general 'encourage'). Often paired with concrete rewards or goals, like bonuses or targets.

verb
to encourageto motivate

Examples

  • 激励。
    Jīng lǐ jīng cháng yòng jiǎng jīn jī lì yuán gōng.
    The manager often uses bonuses to motivate employees.
  • 激励。
    Měi cì shī bài dōu jī lì wǒ gèng jiā nǔ lì.
    Every failure motivates me to work even harder.
  • 激励。
    Lǎo shī de gǔ lì jī lì tā qǔ dé le hěn dà jìn bù.
    The teacher's encouragement motivated him to make great progress.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

激jīstir
励lìencourage

激 and 励 both describe stirring and encouraging, giving the sense of motivating.

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

In 激, the 氵 side marks water, and 敫 gives the sound jiǎo; the original sense is water swashing.

Open 激 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 勵; 励 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
力力lì
Sound part声符shēngfú
厲
厲lì勵lì
Same sound today

The traditional form 勵 puts 厲 beside 力; 力 is the meaning part, and 厲 gives the sound. The simplified 励 is a later shorthand.

Open 励 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6HSK 2.0 Level 6Management

Browse more HSK 6 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.