Chinese word

醒悟

Pronunciation

Pinyinxǐng wù

Meaning

  • verbcome to one's senses

Example

听了那番话后，我才醒悟过来。tīng le nà fān huà hòu wǒ cái xǐng wù guò lái

After hearing those words, I finally came to my senses.

Illustration for 醒悟 (come to one's senses)

More examples

经历失败后，他终于醒悟过来，开始认真复习。jīng lì shī bài hòu tā zhōng yú xǐng wù guò lái kāi shǐ rèn zhēn fù xí

After experiencing failure, he finally came to his senses and began reviewing seriously.

Core concept

A fog lifts from the mind, revealing a truth or mistake and making a new direction possible.

Common phrases

  • 醒悟过来xǐng wù guò lái

    come to one's senses

  • 终于醒悟过来zhōng yú xǐng wù guò lái

    finally come to one's senses

  • 让他醒悟过来ràng tā xǐng wù guò lái

    make him come to his senses

Similar words

发现fā xiàn: Discover a new fact through evidence, observation, or other information.
意识到yì shí dào: Clearly recognize one's own feelings or the situation one is in.
觉悟jué wù: Accept a difficult duty or responsibility and make up one's mind to face it.
领悟lǐng wù: Grasp the deeper meaning or truth revealed by experience or explanation.

Definition in Chinese

突然认识到某个道理、错误或真相，心里变得清醒并可能随之改变行为。tū rán rèn shí dào mǒu gè dào lǐ cuò wù huò zhēn xiàng xīn lǐ biàn de qīng xǐng bìng kě néng suí zhī gǎi biàn xíng wéi

Word origin

醒悟 (xǐngwù, "come to one's senses") combines 醒 (xǐng, "wake up") with 悟 (wù, "understand"), so understanding is pictured as waking from mental unawareness.

Usage tips

  • In everyday conversation, this verb usually signals a meaningful realization rather than a minor discovery, which helps distinguish it from lighter ways of noticing something.

Other meanings

  • wake up toverb
  • see the lightverb

Opposites

Word lists with this word