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知觉 (zhī jué) — consciousness (the state of being awake and aware); perception (the ability to notice or sense things)

Definition

知觉 covers both the physiological act of sensing and the resulting mental awareness of those sensations. Versus 意识 (higher-level thought/awareness) and 直觉 (intuition without a clear sensory source), 知觉 is grounded in what the senses actually deliver.

noun
consciousness (the state of being awake and aware)perception (the ability to notice or sense things)

Examples

  • 知觉。
    Bìng rén de zhī jué zhèng zài màn màn huī fù.
    The patient's consciousness is slowly recovering.
  • 知觉，。
    Tā de zhī jué fēi cháng mǐn ruì, néng gǎn jué dào hěn xì wēi de biàn huà.
    Her perception is very sharp; she can sense very subtle changes.
  • 知觉。
    Tā shuāi dǎo hòu zàn shí shī qù le zhī jué.
    He temporarily lost consciousness after falling.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

知zhīknow
觉juésense

知 (knowing) and 觉 (sensing) together give awareness or perception.

Characters in this word

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

An early form of 知 showed 大 (adult), 口 (mouth), and 子 (child): an adult speaking to a child to pass on knowledge. The 子 part was dropped, and the 大 part changed shape.

Open 知 →

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 覺; 觉 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
見見jiànsee
Sound part声符shēngfú
𦥯
𦥯𦥯覺jué
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 覺 pairs 見, a part that means see, with 𦥯, a part that gives the sound; simplified 觉 is a later abbreviation.

Open 觉 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Thinking & Cognition

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