源etymfun
About

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

夢寐以求

/mɤŋ⁵¹⁻⁵³ meɪ̯⁵¹ i²¹⁴⁻²¹ t͡ɕʰi̯oʊ̯³⁵/
to desire strongly; to crave; to long for
  • 梦寐以求
Post Share

Etymology graph

  • inherited
  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
React Flow
Press enter or space to select a node. You can then use the arrow keys to move the node around. Press delete to remove it and escape to cancel.
Press enter or space to select an edge. You can then press delete to remove it or escape to cancel.

點擊節點放大 · Click a node to zoom in

The phrase describes a longing so intense that one pursues their desire even within the realm of dreams and sleep.
The phrase describes a longing so intense that one pursues their desire even within the realm of dreams and sleep.

Origin

The phrase 夢寐以求 is composed of four characters. The character 夢, meaning dream, contains the semantic component 夕 (night, evening, or dusk) and the phonetic component 瞢 (to feel ashamed). The character 寐, meaning to sleep, includes the semantic component 㝱 (dream) and the component 宀 (a type of deep house with walls on all four sides and a roof). It also contains the components 爿 (a piece of wood or bamboo made by chopping), 人 (man or person), and the phonetic component 未 (to have not or not yet).

Rounding out the expression, the character 以 serves as a preposition that expresses a boundary in time, orientation, or direction, while 求 means to seek or to look for. According to the MOE Dictionary, the phrase describes the act of searching or pursuing something even in the midst of sleep.

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

Lineage

  • characterChinese夢 “dream (Classifier: 場／场 m c mn; 個／个 m c mn)”
    • soundChinese瞢 “to feel ashamed (Non-classical form of 懜／懵 (měng))”
    • meaningChinese夕 “night; evening; dusk”
  • characterChinese寐 “to sleep”
    • meaningChinese㝱 “dream”
    • ideaChinese宀 “a type of deep house with walls on all four sides, a roof, a main hall, and back rooms”
    • soundChinese未 “to have not; not yet”
    • ideaChinese爿 “piece of wood or bamboo (made by chopping)”
    • ideaChinese人 “man; person; people (Classifier: 個／个 m c; 隻／只 h)”
  • characterChinese以 “a preposition that expresses a boundary in time, orientation, direction or quantity”
  • characterChinese求 “to seek; to look for”
Wiktionary etymology text

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

Meanings

phrase
  1. to desire strongly; to crave; to long for

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 連睡夢中都在尋找、追求。形容願望強烈、迫切。語本《詩經．周南．關睢》。 例：這是多少人夢寐以求的職位，你怎能輕易放棄呢？

© 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