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辜负 (gū fù) — to let down, to disappoint (someone's trust, expectations, or efforts)

Definition

辜负 is a formal/literary verb meaning to let down someone's trust, kindness, or expectations. Stronger and more bookish than the everyday 对不起 ('sorry'), and less about personal treachery than 背叛 ('to betray').

verb
to let downto disappoint (someone's trust, expectations, or efforts)

Examples

  • 辜负。
    Wǒ jué bù gū fù nǐ de hǎo yì.
    I will never let down your kindness.
  • 辜负。
    Tā jué de zì jǐ gū fù le tuán duì de xìn rèn.
    He felt he had betrayed the team's trust.
  • 辜负。
    Zhè cì jī huì nǐ qiān wàn bú yào gū fù.
    You must not waste this opportunity.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

辜gūto betray
负fùto fail

辜 (to betray) and 负 (to fail) together mean letting someone down.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
辛辛xīn
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ辜gū
Same sound today

辜 pairs 古 as the sound part with 辛 as the meaning part.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 負; 负 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 負 combines 人 (person) and 貝 (cowry), with 人 written as ⺈; the simplified 负 is a later abbreviation.

Open 负 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6

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