迁就

• Pinyin: qiān jiù
• Hanzi breakdown: 迁 = 辶 + 千 (move/shift); 就 = 京 (capital/high) + 尤 (especially) (approach/go along with)

Meaning

To yield to; to accommodate; to give in to. Adjusting one's own position or standards to satisfy someone else, often excessively.

Carries a slightly negative connotation — implying an unwarranted concession or lowering of standards to please someone. Distinct from 照顾 (considerate care) or 配合 (cooperative coordination). Commonly used in parenting, management, and relationship contexts. Frequent in criticism of leniency or over-accommodation.

Examples

1. 过度迁就孩子的不合理要求，长期下来会削弱其挫折承受能力，不利于其健全人格的形成。 If you indulge a child’s unreasonable demands too much, over time it will weaken their ability to handle setbacks and hinder healthy character development.
2. 管理者不应一味迁就团队成员的情绪，在原则性问题上必须坚守立场，维护团队整体利益。 Managers shouldn’t constantly cater to team members’ emotions; on matters of principle, they must hold their ground and protect the team’s overall interests.
3. 她总是迁就对方，委屈自己的感受与需求，这种长期失衡的模式使这段关系逐渐走向破裂。 She always catered to the other person, suppressing her own feelings and needs, and that long-term imbalance gradually pushed the relationship toward a breakup.

Usage Guide

Context: parenting, relationships, management, criticism

Tone: critical

Do Say

• 教育改革不应迁就短视的功利心态，而应着眼于学生长远的综合素质培养与创新能力发展。(Educational reform should not yield to short-sighted utilitarian thinking, but should focus on the long-term development of students' comprehensive qualities and innovative capacity.)
• 谈判代表明确表示，在核心利益问题上不会作出任何迁就，双方必须在平等互利的基础上寻求共识。(The negotiating representative made clear that no concessions would be made on core interests and that both sides must seek common ground on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.)

Don't Say

• 他迁就了一项好建议 — 迁就 implies yielding to unreasonable demands or lowering of standards; for accepting a good suggestion use 采纳/接受

Origin & History

迁 (shift/move) + 就 (accommodate/go along with) — to shift oneself to go along with another; to accommodate by yielding

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal