预言

• 拼音: yù yán
• 汉字拆解: 预 = 予 + 页 (in advance); 言 = tongue + mouth pictograph (to speak, words)

含义

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).

例句

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。
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。
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。

用法指南

语境: religion, history, politics, literature, economics

语气: elevated

正确说法

• 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.)

错误说法

• 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

起源与历史

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

文化背景

世代: All ages

社会背景: Universal