激励

• Pinyin: jī lì
• Hanzi breakdown: 激 = 氵 + 敫 (forceful stirring); 励 = 厂 + 万 + 力 (cliff/work + myriad + strength, to strive hard)

Meaning

To encourage; to motivate; to inspire. To stimulate someone to greater effort or achievement through recognition, reward, or emotional appeal.

Key term in management, education, and psychology. 激励机制 (incentive mechanism), 激励员工 (motivate employees), 激励措施 (motivational measures) are common collocations. Implies a purposeful effort to inspire sustained action in others.

Examples

1. 父亲临终前的话语深深激励了他，使他立志完成家族几代人未竟的宏大事业。 His father’s words before passing away deeply inspired him, and he resolved to finish the great undertaking that had remained unfulfilled for generations in his family.
2. 公司建立了完善的绩效激励体系，以充分调动员工的工作积极性和创新创造力。 The company established a comprehensive performance incentive system to fully boost employees’ motivation and creativity.
3. 教练通过激励与技术指导相结合的方式，帮助运动员在重大赛事前调整到最佳竞技状态。 By combining encouragement with technical coaching, the coach helped the athletes reach peak condition before major competitions.

Usage Guide

Context: management, education, psychology

Tone: positive

Do Say

• 一套合理的激励制度不仅能提升员工的工作效率，更能增强其对企业的归属感和长期忠诚度。(A reasonable incentive system can not only improve employee work efficiency, but also enhance their sense of belonging and long-term loyalty to the company.)
• 优秀的领导者善于用远大愿景和共同使命来激励团队，使每位成员都能找到工作的深层意义与价值。(Excellent leaders are adept at using grand vision and shared mission to motivate teams, enabling every member to find the deeper meaning and value of their work.)

Don't Say

• 激励自己 — while grammatically correct, use 鼓励自己/自我激励 to be more precise and idiomatic when describing self-motivation

Origin & History

激 (stimulate/arouse) + 励 (encourage/strive)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal