苟活 (gǒu huó) — to drag out an ignoble existence; to live a sha…

Definition

苟活 (gǒu huó) means to keep on living in shame or without dignity — a literary, self-deprecating verb for a degraded, pointless existence.

verb

to drag out an ignoble existenceto live a shameful life

苟活。
Tā jué de zì jǐ zhè yàng gǒu huó xià qù méi yǒu yì yì.
He feels that continuing to live like this is meaningless.
，苟活。
Zài nà duàn hēi àn de suì yuè lǐ, xǔ duō rén zhǐ néng gǒu huó.
In those dark times, many could only drag out an ignoble existence.
，。
Tā gǒu le jǐ nián huó, zhōng yú jué dìng gǎi biàn.
He lived ignobly for a few years and finally decided to change.

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.

苟 suggests carelessly or ignobly, and 活 is to live.

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.

艹句苟

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艹Written in full as艸cǎo

Sound part声符shēngfú

句

句jù苟gǒu

Same sound today

The top 艹 in 苟 relates to plants, and the bottom 句 gives the pronunciation. The original sense was a kind of grass.

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

𠯑

𠯑𠯑活huó

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

活 is built from 氵 (water) and 𠯑, which shows the sound; 𠯑 later changed into 舌.