寻根

尋根

xúngēn

verb #35,125

Meanings

1 to seek one's roots (ancestral, cultural)
2 to get to the bottom of a matter

Characters

to seek; search

Examples

很多海外华人回中国寻根。

Hěnduō hǎiwài huárén huí Zhōngguó xúngēn.

Many overseas Chinese return to China to seek their roots.

他想寻根问底,弄清楚事情的真相。

Tā xiǎng xúngēn wèn dǐ, nòngqīng chu shìqing de zhēnxiàng.

He wants to dig down to the roots and figure out the truth.

Tips

culture

寻根 has a strong cultural meaning in Chinese — overseas Chinese (海外华人) returning to ancestral villages to research family genealogies (族谱). It also names a 1980s literary movement, 寻根文学 ("root-seeking literature"), in which writers explored regional folk traditions.

Stroke Order

寻 xún

根 gēn