挽救

• Pinyin: wǎn jiù
• Hanzi breakdown: 挽 = 扌(hand) + 免 (phonetic); 救 = 求 (to seek) + 攴 (to strike, implying action)

Meaning

To rescue; to save; to salvage. Implies pulling something or someone back from serious danger, failure, or destruction.

More urgent and consequential than 挽回 — used when something critical is at stake (a life, a project, a nation). Common in medical, political, and moral contexts. The emphasis is on the severity of the situation being averted, not merely recovering a loss.

Examples

1. 医疗队连夜赶赴灾区，全力挽救受伤的幸存者。 The medical team rushed to the disaster zone overnight to do everything possible to save the injured survivors.
2. 这项紧急政策的出台，或许能挽救陷入危机的中小企业。 This emergency policy, just released, may be able to rescue the small and medium-sized enterprises mired in crisis.
3. 心理咨询师说，及时的干预往往能挽救一个人的人生轨迹。 The counsellor said that timely intervention can often rescue the entire trajectory of a person's life.

Usage Guide

Context: medical, politics, crisis

Tone: urgent

Do Say

• 手术及时挽救了他的生命。(The surgery saved his life in time.)
• 我们必须采取行动，挽救这个濒临崩溃的生态系统。(We must take action to save this ecosystem that is on the verge of collapse.)

Don't Say

• 将挽救用于轻微或日常场景，如'挽救了一顿饭' — use 补救 or 弥补 for minor fixes; 挽救 implies a genuinely serious situation

Origin & History

Compound of 挽 (to pull back) and 救 (to rescue, to save). Together: to pull something back from harm — to rescue from a critical situation.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal