xún
adverb

Meanings

  1. 1 truly; indeed
  2. 2 name of an ancient river

Examples

Cǐ xún wéi nándé de xìngshì.
This is truly a piece of rare good fortune.
Shījīng de jùzi shì xún měi qiě yì.
The line from the Book of Songs reads: 'truly beautiful and rare'.

Tips

history
began as a river name, then was borrowed for to mean 'truly, indeed'. The literary 洵美 ('truly beautiful') comes straight from the 诗经 (Book of Songs). It also survives in the place name 洵阳.

Components

radical
shuǐ
water
The three-drop water radical points to the original meaning, a river name; the 'truly' sense is a later phonetic borrowing.
phonetic
xún
ten-day period
gives the sound xún directly; it carries no meaning here, working purely as the phonetic on the right.

Stroke Order

xún