主婚人 (zhǔ hūn rén) — (noun) the parents or guardians of the bride and groom, who officiate at a traditional Chinese wedding ceremony; (noun) a wedding officiant or master of ceremonies in a modern civil wedding

Definition

Literally 'master of the wedding,' this is the family member (traditionally the groom's father) who presides over the wedding ceremony and gives the formal speech. Compare 证婚人, who acts as the official witness and signs the marriage certificate.

noun
the parents or guardians of the bride and groom, who officiate at a traditional Chinese wedding ceremonya wedding officiant or master of ceremonies in a modern civil wedding
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 主婚人，。
    Shuāng fāng de zhǔ hūn rén zài hūn lǐ shàng fēn bié zhì cí, zhù fú xīn rén.
    The wedding officiants from both sides gave separate speeches at the wedding, blessing the newlyweds.
  • ，主婚人。
    Chuán tǒng hūn lǐ zhōng, zhǔ hūn rén tōng cháng shì xīn láng de fù qīn.
    In traditional weddings, the master of ceremonies is usually the groom's father.
  • 主婚人。
    Qǐng zhèng hūn rén hé zhǔ hūn rén shàng tái wèi xīn rén bān fā jié hūn zhèng shū.
    Please invite the witness and the wedding officiant onto the stage to present the marriage certificate to the couple.

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.

主婚preside at a wedding
主zhǔpreside婚hūnwedding
动宾Verb + object
人rénperson

主婚 means 'preside at a wedding', and 人 means 'person', so it names the person who presides.

Characters in this word

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

The old forms that became 主 showed a lamp or torch with a flame at the top; other forms showed wood on fire or a spirit tablet.

Open 主 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
女女nǚ
Sound part声符shēngfú
昏
昏hūn婚hūn
Same sound today

婚 uses 女 (woman) for the meaning and 昏 for the sound hūn.

Open 婚 →

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →

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