警告 (jǐng gào) — to warn; to admonish | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

警告 is a formal/official warning from an authority (police, company, school) that something is wrong or forbidden. It is stronger and more official than 提醒 (which just nudges a person to remember).

verb

to warnto admonish

Examples

警告。
Lǎo shī jǐng gào xué shēng bú yào chí dào.
The teacher warned the students not to be late.
警告。
Jǐng chá jǐng gào sī jī kāi chē yào xiǎo xīn.
The police warned the driver to drive carefully.
警告。
Gōng sī jǐng gào yuán gōng zūn shǒu guī dìng.
The company warned employees to follow the rules.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

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

警jǐngalerting

告gàotelling

The 警 refers to alerting and the 告 to telling.

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.

敬言警

Meaning part形符xíngfú

言言yánspoken language, speech

Sound part声符shēngfú

敬

Same sound today

警 places 言 (speech) below 敬; 敬 gives the sound.

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

壴壴zhù
口口kǒu

The origin is unclear: one theory sees 告 as 壴 (a decorated drum) above 口 (an open mouth), while another sees a tongue sticking out of 口.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 6 HSK 2.0 Level 6 Crime & Police Safety & Danger 2000 Most Frequent Chinese Words 3000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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