Chinese word

隔

Pronunciation

Pinyingé

Meaning

  • verbseparate

Example

栅栏把小区和马路隔开了。zhà lán bǎ xiǎo qū hé mǎ lù gé kāi le

The fence separates the residential area from the road.

Illustration for 隔 (separate)

More examples

误会把我们隔开了很多年。wù huì bǎ wǒ men gé kāi le hěn duō nián

The misunderstanding kept us apart for many years.

Core concept

Keeps two sides from touching or connecting by putting a barrier, distance, or time gap between them.

Common phrases

  • 隔开距离gé kāi jù lí

    keep apart by distance

  • 隔离病人gé lí bìng rén

    isolate patients

  • 隔断联系gé duàn lián xì

    cut off contact

Similar words

隔开gé kāi: Makes people or things stay apart by creating space between them.
分开fēn kāi: Splits something into two or more separate parts.
隔离gé lí: Places people or things away from others to prevent danger or infection.

Definition in Chinese

使两者处于不相接触或不通行的状态，常指用障碍或距离隔断，有时用于表示时间上的间隔。shǐ liáng zhě chǔ yú bù xiāng jiē chù huò bù tōng xíng de zhuàng tài cháng zhǐ yòng zhàng ài huò jù lí gé duàn yǒu shí yòng yú biǎo shì shí jiān shàng de jiàn gé

Word origin

隔 (gé, "separate") combines 阝 (fù, "mound"), which suggests a raised boundary, with 鬲 (gé, "vessel"), which supplies the sound, making its barrier-based sense easy to remember.

Usage tips

  • In time expressions, 隔天 (gétiān, "every other day") and 隔年 (génián, "every other year") mark a skipped interval, not the length of an activity.

Other meanings

  • partitionverb
  • divideverb

Opposites

Related words

Word lists with this word