九宫 (jiǔ gōng) — (in ancient Chinese music) the nine modes; (in cosmology/feng shui) the Nine Palaces, a nine-grid pattern

Definition

九宫 (jiǔ gōng) refers to the traditional 'Nine Palaces' nine-grid pattern used in feng shui and cosmology to map space and directional luck, and also to the nine modes of ancient Chinese music.

noun
(in ancient Chinese music) the nine modes(in cosmology/feng shui) the Nine Palacesa nine-grid pattern

Examples

  • 九宫。
    Gǔ dài yīn yuè zhōng de jiǔ gōng zhǐ de shì jiǔ zhǒng yīn jiē mó shì.
    In ancient music, the nine modes refer to nine scale patterns.
  • 九宫。
    Fēng shuǐ xiān sheng yòng jiǔ gōng lái tuī suàn fāng wèi jí xiōng.
    Feng shui masters use the Nine Palaces to calculate directional auspiciousness.
  • 九宫，。
    Zhè ge shù zì yóu xì jiào zuò jiǔ gōng gé, yāo qiú měi háng měi liè shù zì zhī hé xiāng děng.
    This number game is called the Nine Palace grid, requiring each row and column to have equal sums.

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.

九jiǔnine
宫gōngpalace/mode

九 and 宫 together denote nine palaces or nine musical modes.

Characters in this word

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

The shape comes from a stylized hand bent at the wrist, with the lower-right hook showing the bend. Later, it was taken to show a tightened fist bumping up to ten, giving the number nine.

Open 九 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 宮; 宫 is its simplified writing.

  • 宀宀mián
  • 呂呂lǚ

The traditional form 宮 is built from 宀 and 呂.

Open 宫 →

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