Chinese word

坠

Pronunciation

Pinyinzhuì

Meaning

  • verbfall

Example

小鸟从树上坠下来了。xiáo niǎo cóng shù shàng zhuì xià lái le

A little bird fell from the tree.

Illustration for 坠 (fall)

More examples

卫星失控后从轨道上坠下，碎片散落在海面。wèi xīng shī kòng hòu cóng guǐ dào shàng zhuì xià suì piàn sàn luò zài hǎi miàn

After the satellite lost control, it fell from orbit, and debris scattered across the sea.

Core concept

A sudden, dangerous descent from above that may end in a hard impact or crash.

Common phrases

  • 物体坠下wù tǐ zhuì xià

    objects fall

  • 火箭坠落huǒ jiàn zhuì luò

    rocket falls

  • 坠到地面zhuì dào dì miàn

    fall to the ground

Similar words

掉diào: Dropping or falling lightly downward without implying serious trouble.
掉下来diào xià lái: Coming down from above and ending at a lower level.
落下luò xià: Falling from a higher level toward a lower one.
坠落zhuì luò: Falling forcefully from a high place and striking something hard or causing damage.

Definition in Chinese

突然从高处掉落或失去原有位置，多用于描述严重或危险的下落，如物体、飞机等的坠落。tū rán cóng gāo chù diào luò huò shī qù yuán yǒu wèi zhì duō yòng yú miáo shù yán zhòng huò wēi xiǎn de xià luò rú wù tǐ fēi jī děng de zhuì luò

Word origin

坠 (zhuì, "fall") is the simplified form of 墜 (zhuì, "fall"), a phonetic-semantic character in which 土 (tǔ, "earth") points to the ground and 隊 (duì, "group") indicates the pronunciation.

Usage tips

  • For an everyday mishap, 掉 (diào, "drop or fall") sounds more natural in conversation, whereas 坠落 (zhuìluò, "fall from a height") often appears in formal descriptions and reports.

Other meanings

  • crashverb

Opposites

Related words

  • 坠落物zhuì luò wùfalling objectnoun
  • 坠毁zhuì huǐcrashverb

Word lists with this word