纠 (jiū) · to correct, to entangle

Meanings

1 to correct
2 to entangle

Characters

纠

jiū

to correct; to entangle

Examples

HSK 5

老师耐心地纠正了他的发音错误。

Lǎoshī nàixīn de jiūzhèng le tā de fāyīn cuòwù.

His teacher patiently corrected his pronunciation mistakes.

HSK 7-9

两家邻居因为院墙发生了纠纷。

Liǎng jiā línjū yīnwèi yuànqiáng fāshēng le jiūfēn.

The two neighbors got into a dispute over the boundary wall.

Tips

memory

The silk radical 纟 pictures tangled threads that need straightening out - the core image behind both 'to entangle' and 'to correct.'

Components

radical

纟 sī

silk; thread (radical form of 糸)

Left-side silk radical, simplified side-form of 糸. Anchors 纠 in the cord family - the original meaning was 'three strands twisted into one rope,' which gave the modern senses of entangle, gather together, and correct (straighten the twist). Same family: 结 (knot), 绳 (rope), 绕 (wind around).

phonetic

丩 jiū

intertwining (here phonetic + semantic)

Right side 丩 supplies the sound - exact jiū. It is itself a pictograph of two strands looping together, doubling as semantic reinforcement. With the silk radical, 纠 paints two threads twisting - the literal origin of the abstract 'to entangle and to correct.'