卧 wò to crouch
to crouch; to lie down
怎么记住“卧”: 臣 minister + 卜 fortune teller = to crouch. The minister ducks behind the garden wall when the fortune teller walks by, and is forced to crouch there for ten minutes.
部件结构
会意 · Meaning + meaning
originally 臣 + 人
Two or more parts whose meanings together make the new meaning.
卧 = 臣 minister + 卜 fortune teller
- 臣 minister meaning
- 卜 fortune teller shape only
The minister ducks behind the garden wall when the fortune teller walks by, and is forced to crouch there for ten minutes.
How it came to be
The full form joins an eye looking down and a person; today the person on the right is written in a shorter shape.
用法
- Literary/formal verb for "to lie down": in everyday spoken Chinese, use 躺 tǎng instead; 卧 mostly survives inside fixed compounds now.
- 卧室 wòshì "bedroom" is the everyday noun you'll actually use; 卧铺 wòpù "sleeper berth" is the word for a bed on an overnight train.
- 卧底 wòdǐ "undercover agent" and the idiom 卧虎藏龙 wòhǔ cánglóng "crouching tiger, hidden dragon" show the character's more vivid literary life.
含“卧”的词语
例句
- 我直接走向卧室。 Wǒ zhíjiē zǒuxiàng wòshì.I go straight toward the bedroom.