丧礼 (sāng lǐ) — funeral rites, funeral

Definition

noun

funeral ritesfuneral

Measure word · 场

Examples

丧礼。
Tā cān jiā le yé ye de sāng lǐ.
He attended his grandfather's funeral.
丧礼，。
sāng lǐ Shàng, dà jiā dōu chuān zhuó hēi sè de yī fu.
At the funeral, everyone wore black clothes.
丧礼。
Tā men wèi shì zhě jǔ bàn le yì chǎng lóng zhòng de sāng lǐ.
They held a grand funeral for the deceased.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

丧sàngmourning

礼lǐrites

丧 refers to mourning, and 礼 refers to rites.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 喪; 丧 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

㗊㗊㗊many mouths

Sound part声符shēngfú

桑

桑sāng喪sàng

Same sound today

The traditional form 喪 originally paired 桑 (mulberry tree) with 㗊 (many mouths). The simplified 丧 is the modern form, deriving from a form that used 哭 (cry) and 亡 (die).

Open 丧 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 禮; 礼 is its simplified writing.

礻豊禮

Meaning part形符xíngfú

礻Written in full as示shìaltar

Sound part声符shēngfú

豊

豊lǐ禮lǐ

Same sound today

The traditional form 禮 pairs 礻 (altar) with 豊, a sound part, for performing rites at the altar; the simplified 礼 is a later shorthand.

Open 礼 →