Definition
挨 (ái) has two distinct meanings: 'to suffer/endure' (a beating, scolding, hardship) and 'to delay/dawdle'. For suffering, it emphasizes passively receiving something negative from outside, while 耐 (nài) focuses on withstanding with patience, and 受罪 (shòu zuì) describes undergoing hardships broadly. For dawdling, 挨 means stalling or wasting time, whereas 泡 (pào) implies loitering or hanging around idly.
to sufferto endure (e.g., a beating, scolding, hardship)to delayto stallto dawdle
Easily confused
- 唉àilook-alike(interjection) expresses sigh, regret, disappointment, or resignation
- 爱àisound-aliketo love
- 矣yǐlook-alike(classical particle, sentence-final) indicates a change of state, completion, or new situation (equivalent to modern 了)
- 哎āisound-alike(interjection) hey! (used to call someone's attention)
- 矮ǎisound-alikeshort (in height)
- 癌áisound-alikecancer
Examples
- 挨，。Tā ái le māma yí dùn mà, xīn li hěn nánguò.He got a scolding from his mother and felt very upset.
- 挨。Nàxiē nián tā ái guo hěnduō kǔ rìzi.She endured many hard days back then.
- 挨，。Bié ái shíjiān le, kuài zuò juédìng.Don't stall — make a decision quickly.
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