Definition
驯 (xùn) means 'to tame' — making a wild animal or one's own temper gentle and obedient through training. The literary sense 'to attain gradually' (e.g., 驯至) is rare in modern speech and appears mainly in classical texts.
verb
to tame (an animal or one's temper)to attain gradually (literary)
Easily confused
- 寻xúnsound-aliketo search, to look for, to seek
- 熏xūnsound-aliketo smoke, to fumigate (food, incense)
- 训xùnsound-aliketo train, to drill (skills, often physically)
- 旬xúnsound-alike(classifier) ten-day period (one of three divisions of a month)
Examples
- ,。Zhè zhī lǎohǔ hěn nán xùnfú, xūyào hěn duō shíjiān hé nàixīn.This tiger is very hard to tame; it requires a lot of time and patience.
- ,。Tā yòng le liǎng nián xùnfú nà pǐ mǎ, xiànzài tā hěn tīnghuà.She spent two years taming that horse, and now it is very obedient.
- ,。Tā xuéhuì le xùnfú zìjǐ de píqì, bú zài qīngyì fāhuǒ.He learned to tame his own temper and no longer gets angry easily.
Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.