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邂逅 (xiè hòu) — to meet by chance (often with a sense of serendipity or romance)

Definition

邂逅 (xièhòu) is a literary, written verb meaning 'to encounter by chance' — more elegant than the plain 遇见 or 碰到, and often carries a romantic or fateful tone.

verb
to meet by chance (often with a sense of serendipity or romance)

Examples

  • 邂逅。
    Wǒ zài gōng yuán lǐ xiè hòu le duō nián bú jiàn de lǎo tóng xué.
    I unexpectedly ran into an old classmate I hadn't seen for years in the park.
  • ，邂逅。
    Zhè cì lǚ xíng zhōng, tā xiè hòu le yí wèi zhì tóng dào hé de lǚ bàn.
    During this trip, he met a like-minded travel companion by chance.
  • 邂逅。
    Tā men de xiè hòu chōng mǎn le làng màn de sè cǎi.
    Their chance encounter was filled with a romantic tone.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

邂xiè
逅hòu

The characters 邂 and 逅 do not mean anything separately here; together they name an unexpected meeting.

Sound-only characters

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
辵辵chuò
Sound part声符shēngfú
解
解jiě邂
Same sound today

邂 combines 辵 with 解, and 解 gives the sound.

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
辵辵chuò
Sound part声符shēngfú
后
后hòu逅
Same sound today

逅 combines 辵 and 后, with 后 providing the sound.

Appears in
Romance & Marriage

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