About
The character "偶" originated with meanings related to paired or matching entities, a concept embedded in its structure which combines the person radical (亻) with the component 禺, the latter contributing a sense of likeness or pairing. Its earliest concrete applications referred to human-like figures made from wood or clay, such as burial figurines or idols, which often came in symmetrical sets. From this core idea of a crafted double or counterpart, the meaning naturally extended to signify a spouse or partner, and more abstractly, to the mathematical concept of even numbers as opposed to odd. A significant semantic shift occurred as the notion of a paired match evolved into the idea of an unexpected or coincidental meeting, giving rise to its common modern use meaning "by chance" or "accidentally", while its older sense of a sculpted figure persists in words for puppets and idols.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
我偶尔去公园散步。
他是我的偶像。
我偶然遇到了老朋友。
二是一个偶数。
她收集了很多玩偶。
我的配偶非常支持我。
这种疾病是偶发的，并不常见。
在偶然的情况下，我们发现了这个秘密。