突兀 (tū wù) — lofty, towering (of terrain, rocks, etc.); sudden, abrupt (of events, speech, behavior)

Definition

突兀 covers two distinct uses: terrain that rises sharply, and behavior, speech, or events that feel abrupt and out of place. For the 'sudden' sense it is more evaluative than 突然, signaling something feels jarring or ill-fitting, not merely unexpected.

adjective
loftytowering (of terrain, rocks, etc.)suddenabrupt (of events, speech, behavior)

Examples

  • 突兀。
    Zhè zuò shān fēng tū wù dì sǒng lì zài yún wù zhī zhōng.
    This mountain peak rises abruptly among the clouds.
  • ,突兀。
    Tā tū rán tí chū cí zhí, dà jiā dōu jué de hěn tū wù.
    He suddenly resigned, and everyone found it very abrupt.
  • 突兀,。
    Zhè jù huà fàng zài zhè lǐ xiǎn de hěn tū wù, gēn shàng xià wén bù dā.
    This sentence feels out of place here — it doesn't fit the context.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

The characters 突兀 form a fixed pair; neither 突 nor 兀 carries an independent meaning on its own here.

Sound-only characters

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

突 shows 犬 (dog) under 穴 (cave; den), as a dog suddenly coming out of a den.

Open 突 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 兀 →

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