(liú xià) - to stay behind, to remain; to leave (something) behind in Mandarin
liúxiàTraditional: 留下
Translation
to stay behind, to remain; to leave (something) behind
Word origin
留下 means to stay behind, or to leave something behind. 留 (liú) means to remain, a phono-semantic compound with the 田 'field' radical and phonetic 卯 (mǎo). 下 (xià) means down, an indicative graph of a mark below a line, here a resultative complement.
- Origin
- compound
- Root
- 留 (liú, to remain) + 下 (xià, down)
Stroke order
留
下
Examples
，。
Please stay, we haven't finished talking.
，封。
He left and left behind a letter.
。
This trip left me with wonderful memories.
。
Please leave your phone number.
。
That trip left behind wonderful memories.
留下 (liú xià) has two related meanings. When the subject stays, it means to stay behind or remain at a place (请你留下, please stay). When an object is left, it means to leave something behind (留下联系方式, leave contact details; 留下印象, leave an impression). 下 here is a directional complement suggesting settling or depositing. The contrast is with 离开 (lí kāi, to leave/depart) for the subject's own movement.
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Go to my review queueThis word is part of lesson 12.