预言

• Pinyin: yù yán
• Hanzi breakdown: 预 = 予 + 页 (in advance); 言 = tongue + mouth pictograph (to speak, words)

Meaning

A prophecy; a prediction; to prophesy; to predict. A statement about what will happen in the future, often with a sense of special insight or authority.

Stronger and more authoritative than 预测 (forecast, which is analytical) and distinct from 预感 (premonition, which is intuitive). 预言 implies a claim to knowledge of the future, whether through divine revelation, historical insight, or profound analytical foresight. Used in religious, literary, historical, and political contexts. Key phrase: 预言成真 (the prophecy came true).

Examples

1. 这位十九世纪哲学家预言工业文明终将自我瓦解，如今在技术异化和生态危机讨论中仍引发共鸣。 This nineteenth-century philosopher predicted that industrial civilization would eventually collapse from within, and that still resonates in today's debates on technological alienation and ecological crisis.
2. 古代中国的谶纬把政治预言与宇宙符号相连，历代统治者也常借有利预言来证明天命。 In ancient China, omen texts linked political prophecies with cosmic symbols, and rulers often used favorable prophecies to prove their divine mandate.
3. 这位策略师三年前就公开预言债务危机的时间窗和传导路径，后来局势几乎按他的框架发展。 Three years ago, this strategist publicly predicted the timing and transmission path of the debt crisis, and events later unfolded almost exactly along his framework.

Usage Guide

Context: religion, history, politics, literature, economics

Tone: elevated

Do Say

• 那个时代的悖论在于，最早预言极权主义兴起的知识分子并非权力核心人物，而是被主流边缘化的异见者。(The paradox of that era was that the intellectuals who first predicted the rise of totalitarianism were not central figures of power, but dissidents marginalized by the mainstream.)
• 这部小说里，作者借核心人物的预言写出文明崩溃的阴影，也让主角的挣扎不断动摇读者的信念。(In this novel, the author uses the central character's prophecy to sketch the shadow of civilizational collapse, while the protagonist's struggle keeps shaking the reader's belief.)

Don't Say

• 我预言今天会堵车 — 预言 carries a weight of authority and future-knowledge that is out of place for trivial everyday predictions; use 感觉, 估计, or 猜 for casual guesses; save 预言 for claims about significant future events

Origin & History

预 (in advance) + 言 (words/speech — 言pictograph of a tongue above a mouth, to speak). Together: words spoken in advance about the future.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal