注定
zhù dìng · HSK 7
to foreordain
🎯 注 focus/pour + 定 settle/fixed = fixed in advance = destined to happen
注 carries the sense of pouring or fixing attention, and 定 means settled or determined. Joined, they mark an outcome already set and unchangeable: foreordained, bound to be, doomed to occur.
注 — water 氵 + master 主 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 氵 (water) gives the meaning of pouring or flowing, while 主 supplies the sound. The original sense was 'to pour water in,' which extended to 'concentrate, focus' (as in pouring attention) and 'to annotate' (pouring explanation into a text).
定 — roof 宀 + 正 (correct/upright, phonetic)
Originally written with 宀 (roof) over 正 (upright/correct), suggesting a household settled and orderly under its roof. Over time 正 simplified to 㐬-like form at the bottom, and the meaning shifted from 'settled home' to the broader senses of 'fix, stable, decide.'