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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

刻不容緩

/kʰɤ⁵¹⁻⁵³ pu⁵¹ ɻʊŋ³⁵ xu̯än²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
to not tolerate any further delay; to be very urgent
  • 刻不容缓
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Origin

The phrase 刻不容緩 is composed of four characters. The character 刻 means to carve, to cut a notch, or to engrave; it contains the semantic component 刀 (knife or blade) and the phonetic component 亥 (grass root). The character 不 means not.

The character 容 means to hold or to contain, formed with the semantic component 宀 (a type of deep house with walls and a roof) and the phonetic component 公 (public or communal). The character 緩 means loose or slack, consisting of the semantic component 糸 (thin silk) and the phonetic component 爰 (therefore or consequently). The component 爰 is itself formed from 爪 (claw, talon, or paw), 丨 (to connect vertically), and 又 (again or once more).

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

  • characterChinese刻 “to carve; to cut a notch; to engrave”
    • soundChinese亥 “grass root”
    • meaningChinese刀 “knife; blade (Classifier: 把 m c g h j mb md w x; 張／张 c h; 叢／丛 mn; 支 mn mn-t)”
  • characterChinese不 “not; un-; in-; il-; im-; ir-”
  • characterChinese容 “to hold; to contain”
    • meaningChinese宀 “a type of deep house with walls on all four sides, a roof, a main hall, and back rooms”
    • soundChinese公 “public; communal”
  • characterChinese緩 “loose; slack”
    • meaningChinese糸 “thin silk”
    • soundChinese爰 “therefore; consequently”
      • ideaChinese爪 “claw (of animal, bird); talon; paw; nail”
      • ideaChinese丨 “To connect vertically; to pass through from top to bottom.”
      • ideaChinese又 “again; once more”
Wiktionary etymology text

No etymology text yet. The graph shows what is known from the sources.

Meanings

phrase
  1. to not tolerate any further delay; to be very urgent

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 形容情勢十分緊迫，一刻也不容耽擱。 例：此處有人盜採砂石，嚴重影響環境保育，澈底取締改善，已到刻不容緩的地步。

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

Sources

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0