究竟 meaning in English

jiūjìng

to go to the bottom of a matter; after all

HSK 4adverb18 strokes

Meaning of 究竟

Definitions from CC-CEDICT.

jiūjìng

to go to the bottom of a matter
after all
when all is said and done
(in an interrogative sentence) finally
outcome
result

How to use 究竟

究竟 is mostly used in questions to press for the real answer, like English "exactly" or "on earth." It goes before the verb or the question word. Example: 你究竟想要什么？(Nǐ jiūjìng xiǎng yào shénme?) What exactly do you want?

究 (jiū) means to investigate, as in 研究 (yánjiū), and 竟 (jìng) carries the idea of reaching the end. Together 究竟 means to dig all the way to the end, so you ask what is really going on.

Common mistake: Learners often add 吗 (ma) to a 究竟 question, as in 你究竟去吗. 究竟 works with question words or A-not-A forms instead, so say 你究竟去不去？(Nǐ jiūjìng qù bu qù?).

究竟 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

汤tāng姆mǔ和hé玛mǎ丽lì究jiū竟jìng在zài计jì划huà做zuò什shén么me？

What exactly are Tom and Mary planning to do?

汤tāng姆mǔ究jiū竟jìng在zài做zuò什shén么me？

What exactly does Tom do?

究jiū竟jìng谁shuí要yào负fù责zé？

Who exactly is responsible?

那nà里lǐ究jiū竟jìng发fā生shēng了le什shén么me事shì？

What exactly happened there?

“但dàn请qǐng告gào诉sù我wǒ们men，您nín究jiū竟jìng为wèi了le什shén么me杀shā了le他tā？”　“是shì为wèi了le爱ài情qíng。”

"But tell us, just what did you kill him for?" "For love."

Stroke order for each character

Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.

究 jiū · to dig into · 7 strokes

竟 jìng · unexpectedly · 11 strokes

Related words

Words that share a character with 究竟.

研究	yánjiū	research; a study
竟然	jìngrán	unexpectedly; to one's surprise
讲究	jiǎngjiu	to pay particular attention to; carefully selected for quality
研究生	yánjiūshēng	graduate student; postgraduate student
毕竟	bìjìng	after all; all in all
研究所	yánjiūsuǒ	research institute; graduate studies
追究	zhuījiū	to investigate; to look into
竟敢	jìnggǎn	to have the impertinence; to have the cheek to
终究	zhōngjiū	in the end; after all; eventually
研究员	yánjiūyuán	researcher
探究	tànjiū	to investigate; to delve
科学研究	kēxuéyánjiū	scientific research

Questions about 究竟

What does 究竟 mean?

究竟 (jiūjìng) means "to go to the bottom of a matter; after all" and is used as a adverb.

How do you write 究竟?

究竟 is made of 2 characters: 究 (7 strokes), 竟 (11 strokes). That is 18 strokes in total.

Is 究竟 an HSK word?

Yes. 究竟 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.

What is the difference between 究竟 and 到底?

In questions they are very close, and 到底 (dàodǐ) is more common in casual speech. 究竟 sounds a little more formal or written. 到底 can also mean "in the end" after a long process, as in 他到底来了, while 究竟 is rarely used that way.

Can 究竟 be used as a noun?

Yes, in fixed phrases it means the real story or outcome. A common one is 问个究竟 (wèn ge jiūjìng), to ask and get to the bottom of something. Another is 看个究竟 (kàn ge jiūjìng), to go and see what is really happening.