“汉语盘点2018”揭晓年度热词 "Striving" chosen as Chinese character of 2018

"Striving(奋 fèn)" and "the 40th anniversary of reform and opening-up(改革开放四十年 gǎigé kāifàng sìshí nián)" have been respectively chosen as the Chinese Character and Word of the Year 2018 in China, according to a survey released Thursday.

The survey also chose "exit(退 tuì)" and "trade friction(贸易摩擦 màoyì mócā)" as the international Chinese Character and Word of the Year respectively for 2018.

The winning characters(字 zì) and words(词 cí) were chosen from several thousand ecommendations(推荐 tuījiàn) and based on hundreds of thousands of votes(投票 tóupiào) by netizens.

Since the launch(发布 fābù) of the campaign, the top 10 new words(新词 xīn cí), buzzwords(热词 rè cí), and cyber words(网络用语 wǎngluò yòngyǔ) of the year have also been unveiled, among which "harvest festival for Chinese farmers," "China International Import Expo" and "a community with a shared future for humanity" were listed.

Experts said that these characters and words reflect(反映 fǎnyìng) the society(社会 shèhuì) and times(时代 shídài), epitomize what transpired in China and the world over the past year, and embody the people's desire for better lives.

The Character and Word of the Year are now in its 13th year. This year's survey was conducted by the Chinese National Language Monitoring and Research Center and internet companies including Tencent and Sogou and database Gsdata.

重点词汇 Key Word:

奋 <动词 v.>

E.g.

• 奋斗 strive; struggle; fight
  Wǒmen shì cóng zuì dǐcéng kāishǐ, yībù yībù fèndòu dào zuìgāo céng de.
  我们是从最底层开始,一步一步奋斗到最高层的。
  We started from the bottom and we had to work our way up to the top.

• 奋发图强 go all out/strive to make the country prosperous
  Tā zhīqián zuòwéi rǒngyuán bèi cái, xiànzài tā zhèng shìtú zài yīcì fènfātúqiáng.
  他之前作为冗员被裁,现在他正试图再一次奋发图强。
  He was made redundant and now he's trying to pull himself up again.

• 奋不顾身 dash ahead regardless of one's safety
  Tā fènbùgùshēn de pū xiàng dírén.
  他奋不顾身地扑向敌人。
  He threw himself at the enemy, completely disregarding his own safety.

• 奋勇拼搏 summon up all one's courage to struggle against tremendous odds
  Ràng wǒmen fènyǒng pīnbó, yǒngbào mèngxiǎng.
  让我们奋勇拼搏,拥抱梦想。
  Let's go all out to embrace our dream.

• 振奋人心 inspire people; fill people with enthusiasm
  Zhè shì gè zhènfèn rénxīn de xiāoxī.
  这是个振奋人心的消息。
  This is inspiring news.