TongTong
Sign in

重叠 (chóng dié) — (verb) to overlap; to superimpose; (noun) overlap; overlapping part; (linguistics) reduplication (of Chinese verbs, e.g., 看看, 试试)

Definition

A verb/noun for two things occupying the same space or time ('to overlap'). Unlike 重复 ('to repeat' content/words), 重叠 emphasizes physical or temporal coexistence; in linguistics, it refers to reduplication (e.g., 看看).

verb
to overlapto superimpose(linguistics) reduplication (of Chinese verbs, e.g., 看看, 试试)
noun
overlapoverlapping part

Examples

  • 重叠。
    Zhè liǎng gè tú xíng yǒu yí bù fen chóng dié zài yì qǐ.
    These two figures overlap partially.
  • 重叠，。
    Tā men de gōng zuò shí jiān chóng dié le, suǒ yǐ hěn nán jiàn miàn.
    Their work schedules overlapped, so it was hard to meet.
  • ，重叠。
    Zài kǒu yǔ zhōng, dān yīn jié dòng cí cháng tōng guò chóng dié lái biǎo shì qīng sōng de dòng zuò.
    In spoken Chinese, monosyllabic verbs often use reduplication to indicate a light action.

Origin

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
人人rénman
Sound part声符shēngfú
東
東dōng重zhòng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

重 developed from a picture of a man carrying a bag, with 人 for the man and 東 for the bag; a later ground element was folded into the form.

Open 重 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 疊; 叠 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 疊, not 叠, pairs 畾 and 宜 to show a pile.

Open 叠 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Abstract ConceptsLanguage

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.