Chinese word

过于

Pronunciation

Pinyinguò yú

Meaning

  • adverbtoo

Example

你过于紧张了。nǐ guò yú jǐn zhāng le

You are too nervous.

Illustration for 过于 (too)

More examples

他过于依赖别人，缺乏独立能力。tā guò yú yī lài bié rén quē fá dú lì néng lì

He depends too much on others and lacks the ability to be independent.

Core concept

Shows a quality or action pushed beyond a suitable limit.

Common phrases

  • 过于依赖guò yú yī lài

    depend too much on

  • 过于关注guò yú guān zhù

    care too much about

  • 过于忙碌guò yú máng lù

    be overly busy

Similar words

太tài: Expresses plainly in daily speech that a quality or action is extremely high.
过分guò fèn: Judges a degree or behavior to be improperly excessive and beyond acceptable limits.
过度guò dù: Refers formally to an amount or degree that goes beyond its proper range.
太过tài guò: Highlights in spoken language that a degree or action has gone too far.

Definition in Chinese

表示超出适当范围或标准，强调程度过高或过强，通常置于被修饰词之前。biǎo shì chāo chū shì dàng fàn wéi huò biāo zhǔn qiáng diào chéng dù guò gāo huò guò qiáng tōng cháng zhì yú bèi xiū shì cí zhī qián

Word origin

The formation of 过于 (guòyú, "too") combines 过 (guò, "pass beyond") with 于 (yú, "at/in"), so an excessive degree is presented as one that has gone beyond a suitable point.

Usage tips

  • The word can make a comment sound critical, since it presents the degree as excessive rather than merely noticeable.

Opposites

  • 适度地shì dù dìin moderationadverb

Related words

Word lists with this word