Chinese word

被叫

Pronunciation

Pinyinbèi jiào

Meaning

  • verbbe called

Example

他被叫去开会了。tā bèi jiào qù kāi huì le

He was called to attend a meeting.

Illustration for 被叫 (be called)

More examples

半夜她被叫来帮忙修水管。bàn yè tā bèi jiào lái bāng máng xiū shuǐ guǎn

In the middle of the night, she was called to come help fix the water pipe.

Core concept

A person stands on the receiving end of someone else's call, either being drawn somewhere or being known by a name.

Common phrases

  • 被叫来帮忙bèi jiào lái bāng máng

    be called to come help

  • 被叫起来bèi jiào qǐ lái

    be called awake

Similar words

叫jiào: Call out to someone or use words to make them come or act.
让ràng: Ask someone to do something and cause that person to act.

Definition in Chinese

遭到别人呼唤而被带走、被召集或在称呼上被冠以某名的被动用法。zāo dào bié rén hū huàn ér bèi dài zǒu bèi zhào jí huò zài chēng hū shàng bèi guān yǐ mǒu míng de bèi dòng yòng fǎ

Word origin

The compound combines 被 (bèi, "be affected by"), which marks a passive role, with 叫 (jiào, "call"), which covers both calling someone and calling someone by a name.

Usage tips

  • This wording can sound explanatory in casual speech; a direct sentence is often more natural when the speaker simply reports who made the request.

Other meanings

  • be summonedverb
  • be called togetherverb

Word lists with this word