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远

yuǎn

Far away, distant kin, nowhere near good enough

The picture Two points pulled so far apart that a reaching hand still comes up empty. 远 is a gap between two points; 近 is the two of them touching.

Describing words

Where the picture shows up in 远

  1. physically far

    医院离这儿远吗?

    yīyuàn lí zhèr yuǎn ma

    Is the hospital far from here?

    A finger slides a long way between two dots on a map

    Often in the pattern 离 A 远

  2. too far to walk

    太远了,我们打车吧。

    tài yuǎn le, wǒmen dǎchē ba

    It's too far — let's take a taxi.

    Giving up on walking and pulling open a cab door at the curb

  3. distant relation

    他是我的远亲。

    tā shì wǒ de yuǎnqīn

    He's a distant relative of mine.

    Someone at the very edge of the family photo, only a shoulder in frame

  4. far off, away

    别走远了,马上到站。

    bié zǒu yuǎn le, mǎshàng dào zhàn

    Don't wander far — we're almost at the stop.

    A hand reaching out after a child's back, calling their name

    After a verb it works as 'far away'

  5. far short

    我的水平还差得远。

    wǒ de shuǐpíng hái chà de yuǎn

    My level still falls far short.

    Two bars so unevenly matched that the top of one is off the page

    差得远 has set into 'nowhere near'

All of it in one picture

远 is the gap between two points. A gap on the ground is distance; a gap legs cannot cover puts you in a taxi; a gap in the bloodline is a distant relative; a gap between a child and you becomes 'don't go far'; a gap between your level and the standard becomes falling far short.

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