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自卫 (zì wèi) — to defend oneself

Definition

Verb meaning 'to defend oneself' against physical attack or danger. Unlike 辩解 or 答辩, which mean defending one's words or position, 自卫 is concrete physical self-protection.

verb
to defend oneself

Examples

  • 自卫。
    Tā xué huì le rú hé zì wèi.
    He learned how to defend himself.
  • ，自卫。
    Zài wēi xiǎn qíng kuàng xià, zì wèi shì hěn zhòng yào de.
    In dangerous situations, self-defense is very important.
  • 自卫。
    Tā jīng guò xùn liàn hòu kě yǐ hěn hǎo dì zì wèi.
    After training, she can defend herself well.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

自zìoneself
卫wèidefend

自 means oneself, and 卫 means defend, so the meaning is defending oneself.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

自 originally drew a nose. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write 自, so the picture and the meaning are unrelated.

Open 自 →

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 衛; 卫 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
行行xíng
Sound part声符shēngfú
韋
韋wéi衛wèi
Same sound today

The traditional form 衛 is built from 行 as the sense part and 韋 as the sound part; the simplified 卫 is a shorthand.

Open 卫 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Military & DefenseSafety & Danger

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