驯养

馴養

xùnyǎng

verb #34,609

Meanings

1 to domesticate
2 to tame and raise
3 to train and keep (an animal)

Characters

to raise / nurture

Examples

人类驯养狗已经有上万年的历史。

Rénlèi xùnyǎng gǒu yǐjīng yǒu shàng wàn nián de lìshǐ.

Humans have been domesticating dogs for over ten thousand years.

这种鸟很难驯养。

Zhè zhǒng niǎo hěn nán xùnyǎng.

This species of bird is very hard to tame and raise.

Tips

usage

驯养 covers both 'taming' (making wild animals docile) and 'rearing' (keeping them long-term). Compare with 驯化 (xùnhuà), which is the technical term for evolutionary domestication of a whole species; 驯养 applies to individual animals or contained populations like zoo animals or falcons.

culture

The verb gained a new emotional weight in Chinese after the 1981 translation of Saint-Exupéry's 《小王子》(The Little Prince), where the fox tells the prince '你必须很有耐心。你要先离我远一点儿，像这样在草丛中坐下...你要驯养我吗？' — 驯养 became the keyword for the book's theme of mutual attachment.

Stroke Order

驯 xùn

养 yǎng