Chinese word

觉

Pronunciation

Pinyinjiào

Meaning

  • nounsleep

Example

我最近常常缺觉。wǒ zuì jìn cháng cháng quē jiào

Lately, I often don't get enough sleep.

Illustration for 觉 (sleep)

More examples

周末补个觉后，我的精神好多了。zhōu mò bǔ gè jiào hòu wǒ de jīng shén hǎo duō le

After catching up on sleep over the weekend, I felt much better.

Core concept

A bounded stretch of rest that a person enters, gets, lacks, or catches up on.

Common phrases

  • 缺觉quē jué

    lack sleep

  • 补觉bǔ jiào

    catch up on sleep

  • 睡一觉shuì yí jiào

    take a nap

Similar words

睡眠shuì mián: A written noun for the state or period of being asleep.
休息xiū xī: A period of rest that helps the body or mind recover.

Definition in Chinese

口语中用作“睡觉”的缩略名词，表示睡眠这一生理状态或一次睡眠的时段，常见搭配有“缺觉”“补觉”“睡个觉”等。kóu yǔ zhōng yòng zuò shuì jiào de suō lüè míng cí biǎo shì shuì mián zhè yì shēng lǐ zhuàng tài huò yí cì shuì mián de shí duàn cháng jiàn dā pèi yǒu quē jué bǔ jué shuì gè jiào děng

Word origin

The character 觉 (jué, "awaken or feel") is linked to awareness, while the colloquial sleep noun comes from shortening 睡觉 (shuìjiào, "to sleep") to its final character.

Usage tips

  • English sleep works freely as both a noun and a verb, but this Chinese form mainly names a sleep period, while the action is normally expressed with a verb phrase.

Related words

Word lists with this word