诤 (zhèng) · to admonish; to remonstrate frankly

Meanings

1 to admonish; to remonstrate frankly
2 to criticize candidly

Characters

诤

zhèng

to remonstrate frankly

Examples

HSK 7-9

敢于直言规劝的朋友叫诤友。

Gǎn yú zhíyán guīquàn de péngyou jiào zhèng yǒu.

A friend who frankly tells you your faults is a 诤友.

Tips

history

诤 is not used as a free-standing word in modern Chinese; it survives bound in literary compounds like 诤友 (a friend who frankly criticizes) and 谏诤 (to remonstrate). It is the speech radical 讠 with 争, which both shapes the meaning (contending in words) and gives the sound.

register

Literary and bound only; in plain speech 劝告 is used for advising someone frankly.

Components

radical

讠 yán

speech; words

讠 is the left-side form of the speech radical 言. It supplies the meaning: remonstrating frankly is done with words, so the speech element marks this as a verb of speaking.

phonetic

争 zhēng

to contend; to dispute

争 gives the sound (zhēng to zhèng) and also colours the meaning - frank admonishment is a kind of contending in words. The same element appears in 净 and 挣.