搜救

• Pinyin: sōu jiù
• Hanzi breakdown: 搜 = 扌(hand radical) + 叟 (to search); 救 = 求 + 攴 (to rescue, to save)

Meaning

To conduct search-and-rescue operations. A compound verb describing the coordinated effort to locate and retrieve missing, injured, or endangered persons from dangerous situations.

Used primarily in emergency, disaster, and military contexts. Commonly collocates with 行动、队伍、工作、任务. Appears frequently in news coverage of natural disasters, maritime incidents, and accident responses. Implies an organised and professional emergency response operation rather than an individual effort.

Examples

1. 地震发生后的七十二小时内，搜救队伍夜以继日地在废墟中搜救被困的幸存者，与时间展开了一场生死赛跑。 Within the first seventy-two hours after the earthquake, search-and-rescue teams worked day and night in the rubble to find trapped survivors, racing against time in a life-or-death fight.
2. 海警部门调派多艘船只和直升机，展开大规模海上搜救行动，全力寻找失联渔船上的七名船员。 The coast guard dispatched multiple vessels and helicopters to launch a large-scale search-and-rescue operation at sea, doing everything possible to find the seven crew members of the missing fishing boat.
3. 山岳搜救队凭借专业训练与精良装备，成功在暴风雪肆虐的山区搜救出了三名失联多日的登山者。 With professional training and excellent equipment, the mountain rescue team successfully rescued three climbers who had been missing for days in a mountain region battered by a blizzard.

Usage Guide

Context: emergency, disaster response, military, journalism

Tone: urgent

Do Say

• 当局迅速启动搜救机制，协调各方力量对失事客机可能坠落的海域展开了拉网式搜救行动，不放过任何线索。(Authorities quickly activated the search-and-rescue mechanism, coordinating all available resources to conduct a grid-pattern search of the sea area where the aircraft may have gone down.)
• 专业搜救犬凭借其灵敏的嗅觉在坍塌废墟中准确定位了数名仍有生命迹象的被困者，为救援工作争取了宝贵时间。(Trained search-and-rescue dogs used their acute sense of smell to precisely locate several trapped survivors still showing signs of life in the collapsed rubble, buying precious time for the rescue operation.)

Don't Say

• 不要将 搜救 用于非紧急情境 — 不说'我在搜救我丢失的手机'；普通寻找用 寻找 或 找，搜救 专指涉及生命安全的紧急救援行动

Origin & History

搜 (to search) + 救 (to rescue, to save) — to search for and rescue those in danger

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal