救

• Pinyin: jiù
• Hanzi breakdown: 救 = 求 (to seek, phonetic) + 攵 (to act/strike), meaning to take action to help someone

Meaning

To save; to rescue; to help someone out of danger. The act of delivering someone from a harmful or dangerous situation.

Used for both physical rescue (saving from drowning, fire, accident) and more abstract salvation (saving a situation, rescuing a failing business). Common compounds include 救人 (save a person), 救命 (save a life / 'Help!'), 急救 (first aid), and 抢救 (emergency rescue).

Examples

1. 消防员从火里救出了三个人。 The firefighters rescued three people from the fire.
2. 医生正在全力救这个病人。 The doctor is doing everything to save this patient.
3. 他跳进河里救了那个小孩。 He jumped into the river and saved that child.

Usage Guide

Context: emergency, medical, everyday

Tone: urgent

Do Say

• 救命！有人掉进水里了！(Help! Someone fell into the water!)
• 谢谢你救了我。(Thank you for saving me.)

Don't Say

• 请救我找到我的钥匙。(Don't use 救 for minor requests — it means saving from danger or harm. For finding keys, say 请帮我找到我的钥匙.)

Origin & History

Composed of 求 (to seek, phonetic) and 攵 (to strike/act). The original meaning was 'to stop someone from doing wrong,' later evolving to 'to save' or 'to rescue.'

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal