Chinese word

耽搁

Pronunciation

Pinyindān gē

Meaning

  • verbdelay

Example

别耽搁，快走吧。bié dān gē kuài zǒu ba

Don't delay; let's go quickly.

Illustration for 耽搁 (delay)

More examples

他受伤了，训练被耽搁了。tā shòu shāng le xùn liàn bèi dān gē le

He was injured, so his training was delayed.

Core concept

A pause or obstruction keeps a person, task, or plan from reaching its next step on time.

Common phrases

  • 耽搁工作dān gē gōng zuò

    delay work

  • 耽搁学业dān gē xué yè

    delay one's studies

  • 长时间耽搁cháng shí jiān dān gē

    be delayed for a long time

Similar words

推迟tuī chí: Decide that a scheduled event or deadline will happen later.
拖延tuō yán: Deliberately delay work or a process by leaving it for later.
延误yán wù: Be delayed during transport or processing, causing late arrival or completion.
拖搁tuō gē: Make something in progress pause and fall behind for a while in everyday speech.

Definition in Chinese

因各种原因使事情推迟或中断，导致不能按原计划及时进行。yīn gè zhǒng yuán yīn shǐ shì qíng tuī chí huò zhōng duàn dǎo zhì bù néng àn yuán jì huà jí shí jìn xíng

Word origin

耽搁 (dāngē, "delay") combines 耽 (dān, "linger") and 搁 (gē, "put down"), so a task is pictured as left in place instead of moving ahead.

Usage tips

  • English often separates arriving late from causing a delay, but this Chinese verb can frame the person, trip, or task that is held up as the thing affected by the lost time.

Other meanings

  • be lateverb
  • postponeverb
  • be delayedverb

Opposites

Word lists with this word