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驳回 (bó huí) — to reject, to turn down, to overrule (an appeal, application, proposal, etc.)

Definition

Formal/legal verb for officially rejecting or overruling an appeal, application, or proposal (e.g. by a court or superior). Stronger and more institutional than 拒绝, the everyday 'refuse'; 比 否决 is narrower — 否决 vetoes within a voting body.

verb
to rejectto turn downto overrule (an appeal, application, proposal, etc.)

Examples

  • 驳回。
    Shàng jí bó huí le tā de qǐng qiú.
    The higher authorities rejected his request.
  • 驳回。
    Fǎ yuàn bó huí le zhè ge wú lǐ de shàng sù.
    The court overruled this unreasonable appeal.
  • 驳回。
    Wǒ de fāng àn bèi xiàng mù jīng lǐ bó huí le.
    My proposal was turned down by the project manager.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

驳bóreject
回huíback

The hanzi "驳" means reject and "回" means back, so together they express sending a request back.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 駁; 驳 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
馬馬mǎhorse
Sound part声符shēngfú
爻
爻yáo駁bó
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 駁 pairs 馬, a horse, with 爻, which gives the sound and can also be interpreted as marks; the simplified 驳 is a later abbreviation.

Open 驳 →

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

回 comes from a drawing of a spiral, showing something turning around.

Open 回 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Law & Justice

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