About
救 is a phono-semantic compound: the right side 攵 (攴, 'strike') conveys action or intervention, and the left side 求 (qiú, 'to beg') provides the sound. The character originally meant to respond actively to a plea for help, hence 'to rescue' from danger, disaster, or difficulty. This later extended to relieving any adverse condition, extinguishing fires, curing serious illness, alleviating famine, always with the sense of an outside force intervening to avert destruction.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
请救救我。
他会救你。
快打急救电话！
救援队很快赶到了。
这种药能救很多人。
他们正在努力挽救婚姻。
医生救了他的命。
为了救那个孩子，他跳进了冰冷的河里。
Report an issue
Flag incorrect definitions, examples, etymology, etc.