主婚 (zhǔ hūn) — to officiate at a wedding

Definition

A formal/literary verb meaning 'to officiate at a wedding' — the person (often an elder or respected figure) who presides over the ceremony.

verb
to officiate at a wedding

Examples

  • 主婚。
    Jīn tiān shì wǒ shū shu wèi xīn rén zhǔ hūn.
    Today my uncle is officiating the wedding for the couple.
  • ，。
    Tā yǐ jīng zhǔ guò sān cì hūn le, jīng yàn hěn fēng fù.
    He has officiated three weddings already and has a lot of experience.
  • 主婚。
    Zhè cì hūn lǐ yóu lǎo cūn zhǎng lái zhǔ hūn.
    This wedding is being officiated by the old village head.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

主zhǔpreside
婚hūnwedding

主 (preside) with 婚 (wedding) gives 'officiate at a wedding'.

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 →

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