Definition
发掘 (fājué) means 'to excavate/unearth' — used for digging up archaeological relics (literal) and for tapping into hidden potential, talents, or markets (figurative). It is more formal and often implies discovering something valuable, compared to 挖掘 (wājué), which is more general 'digging up', and 挖 (wā), which simply means 'to dig' without the connotation of unearthing something significant.
verb
(literal) to excavateto dig up (archaeological sites, relics)(figurative) to unearthto tap into (potential, talents, markets)
Easily confused
- 发觉fā juésound-aliketo become aware of; to realize; to detect
Examples
- 发掘。Kǎogǔxuéjiā zài zhè piàn yízhǐ zhōng fā jué chū le dàliàng de qīngtóngqì.Archaeologists excavated a large number of bronze artifacts from this site.
- 发掘。Gōngsī tōngguò péixùn lái fā jué měi wèi yuángōng de qiánlì.The company taps into each employee's potential through training.
- 发掘。Zhège tuánduì nǔlì fā jué xīn de shìchǎng jīyù.This team works hard to unearth new market opportunities.
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