迥然不同 (jiǒng rán bù tóng) — utterly different; distinctly different; poles…

Definition

A formal idiom meaning 'poles apart' or 'utterly unlike'. Use 迥然不同 for an emphatic, written contrast; 不一样 is the everyday spoken equivalent.

idiom

utterly differentdistinctly differentpoles apart

迥然不同，。
Zhè liǎng zhǒng guān diǎn jiǒng rán bù tóng, hěn nán tiáo hé.
These two viewpoints are utterly different and hard to reconcile.
迥然不同，。
Tā de xìng gé yǔ yǐ qián jiǒng rán bù tóng, xiàng biàn le yí gè rén.
His personality is completely different from before, as if he's become a different person.
迥然不同，。
Zhōng xī fāng wén huà jiǒng rán bù tóng, dàn gè yǒu tè sè.
Chinese and Western cultures are poles apart, but each has its own characteristics.

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.

迥然far apart

迥jiǒngfar apart然rán-ly

后缀Suffix

不同not same

偏正Modifier + head

迥然 adds a sense of far apart to 不同, so it means utterly not the same.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

肰

肰rán然rán

Same sound today

然 is made from 肰, which gives the sound, and 火, which shows fire, matching the old sense 'to burn'.

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

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

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

同 originally drew a pipe. It is the old form of 筒.