二十七秒 (èr shí qī miǎo) — 27 seconds

Definition

noun

27 seconds

Examples

二十七秒。
Bǐ sài zhǐ yòng le èr shí qī miǎo jiù jié shù le.
The match ended in just 27 seconds.
二十七秒。
Tā pǎo yì bǎi mǐ yòng le èr shí qī miǎo.
He ran 100 meters in 27 seconds.
二十七秒。
Qǐng děng dài èr shí qī miǎo zài àn àn niǔ.
Please wait 27 seconds before pressing the button.

Origin

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

二 is drawn as two parallel strokes, where the number of strokes shows the amount.

Open 二 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

The early shape 十 was mostly a single vertical stroke, sometimes with a dot, and later gained a horizontal stroke to form a cross. For the number ten, it marked the next digit above one.

Open 十 →

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

The shape of 七 comes from two crossing lines: the top line runs left to right, and the next line goes down and across.

Open 七 →

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

禾少秒

Meaning part形符xíngfú

禾禾hécereal; grain

Sound part声符shēngfú

少

少shǎo秒miǎo

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.