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追

zhuī
verb HSK 3 #1,029

Meanings

  1. 1 to chase; to pursue
  2. 2 to seek; to investigate; to look into
  3. 3 to recall; to reminisce
  4. 4 to do retroactively; to confer posthumously

Examples

警察在追小偷。
Jǐngchá zài zhuī xiǎotōu.
The police are chasing the thief.
他在追一个女孩。
Tā zài zhuī yí gè nǚhái.
He's pursuing a girl.
我最近在追一部韩剧。
Wǒ zuìjìn zài zhuī yí bù Hánjù.
I've been binge-watching a Korean drama lately.
追求梦想需要勇气。
Zhuīqiú mèngxiǎng xūyào yǒngqì.
Pursuing dreams takes courage.

Tips

usage
追剧 = to binge-watch a show, 追星 = to be a celebrity fan, 追更 = to keep up with a serial as it drops. All three reuse the chase-and-keep-up image and are everywhere on Chinese social media.
register
Dictionaries also list a second reading duī, used only in the archaic compound 追琢 'to chisel jade' and as a name for a bell-knob. Modern speakers don't use it — assume zhuī unless reading classical text.

Components

radical
辶 chuò
walk; movement
Walk-radical wrapping under and to the left — 辶 is the left-bottom form of 辵, picturing a foot stepping along a road. 追 is the prototypical motion-after-someone, placing it in the family of 进 (advance), 逃 (flee), and 返 (return).
ideograph
丿 piě
top tick (residue of an older hill/pile graph)
The top tick is what remains of an older graph that pictured a small hill or pile (the thing being chased over). It is just a slanting stroke now but historically capped the lower piece, marking it as raised terrain. Without this tick the lower body reads as a different unit.
phonetic
㠯 yǐ
archaic form of 以 (here historical phonetic)
Body of the right component — 㠯 is an archaic form of 以, which in older readings shaded toward zhuī and gave 追 its sound. The phonetic link is dim in modern Mandarin but parallels show in 师 and 归. With the top tick the whole right side once depicted a hill-pile being pursued.

Stroke Order

追 zhuī