丁冬 (dīng dōng) — ding dong (sound of bells or light metallic clanking)

Definition

An onomatopoeia for the clear, ringing 'ding-dong' of bells or small metallic chimes (doorbells, wind chimes). Often reduplicated as 丁丁冬冬 for a lighter, tinkling effect.

onomatopoeia
ding dong (sound of bells or light metallic clanking)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 丁冬，。
    dīng dōng De yī shēng, mén líng xiǎng le.
    A ding-dong sound came as the doorbell rang.
  • 丁冬。
    Yuǎn chù chuán lái yí zhèn dīng dōng de líng shēng.
    From afar came a series of ding-dong bell sounds.
  • 丁冬。
    Fēng líng zài fēng zhōng fā chū dīng dōng de xiǎng shēng.
    The wind chime made a ding-dong sound in the breeze.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
拟声nǐshēngOnomatopoeia

The characters imitate a sound; their individual meanings play no part.

丁dīng
冬dōng

The two characters together imitate a light metallic jingling; neither contributes its usual meaning here.

Sound-only characters

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

丁 may picture a nail head, a person's head, a square city wall, or a square star pattern.

Open 丁 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 冬 →

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