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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

突如其來

/tʰu⁵⁵ ɻu³⁵ t͡ɕʰi³⁵ laɪ̯³⁵/
sudden; suddenly; abrupt; abruptly
  • 突如其来
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The character 突 depicts a dog emerging suddenly from a hole, representing an abrupt or unexpected arrival.
The character 突 depicts a dog emerging suddenly from a hole, representing an abrupt or unexpected arrival.

Origin

The phrase 突如其來 is composed of four characters: 突, 如, 其, and 來. The character 突 means to dash forward, to break through, or to charge, and contains the components 穴 (hole) and 犬 (dog). The character 如 means to be like, as, as if, or as though; it consists of the semantic component 口 (mouth) and the phonetic component 女 (woman or female).

Completing the phrase are 其, meaning his, her, its, or their, and 來, meaning to come or to arrive. The expression is found in the I Ching, specifically within Hexagram 30 (《易經·離卦》).

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

「突如其來」出自《易經·離卦·象曰》。這個詞由四個漢字組成：「突」意指衝撞、突破或向前衝；「如」表示像、如同；「其」指他的、她的、它的或他們的；「來」則是來到或抵達。

在字形構成上，「突」字包含「穴」（洞穴）與「犬」（狗）兩個部件。而「如」字則由「口」作為意義部件，並以「女」作為聲音部件。這個詞彙整體用來描述事物突然且不經預警地出現。

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

Lineage

  • characterChinese突 “to dash forward; to break through; to charge”
    • ideaChinese穴 “hole”
    • ideaChinese犬 “dog”
  • characterChinese如 “to be like; as; as if; as though”
    • soundChinese女 “woman; (only of humans in Standard Chinese) female”
    • meaningChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”
  • characterChinese其 “his; her; its; their”
  • characterChinese來 “to come; to arrive”
Wiktionary etymology text

From I Ching, Hexagram 30 (《易经·離卦》)

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

phrase
  1. sudden; suddenly; abrupt; abruptly

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 形容出乎意料的突然到來或發生。語出《易經．離卦．象曰》。 例：我們被他突如其來的咆哮聲嚇了一跳。

© 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
  • Wiktionary: 突如其來