骋 (chěng): to gallop

Meanings

1 to gallop
2 to give free rein to

Characters

骋

chěng

to gallop

Examples

他在草原上纵马驰骋。

Tā zài cǎoyuán shàng zòngmǎ chíchěng.

He let his horse gallop freely across the grassland.

写小说让她驰骋想象。

Xiě xiǎoshuō ràng tā chíchěng xiǎngxiàng.

Writing fiction lets her imagination run free.

Tips

usage

Almost always seen in 驰骋 (to gallop). It extends from horses to abstract action: 驰骋疆场 (charge across the battlefield) or 驰骋想象 (let imagination roam).

Components

radical

马 mǎ

horse

The horse radical on the left, in its compact simplified shape. It anchors the meaning: to gallop is an action of a horse. The same radical groups 驰, 驶, and 骋 as horse-motion verbs.

phonetic

甹 pīng

phonetic component

Supplies the sound. The reading has drifted from pīng to chěng, so it now serves only as a pronunciation hint with no meaning contribution to this horse verb.