云霄 (Yún xiāo) — the sky, the heavens (literary)

Definition

Literary/poetic term for the high sky — 'piercing the clouds' (高耸入云霄, 响彻云霄). Much more formal than everyday 天空 or 天.

noun

the skythe heavens (literary)

云霄，。
Fēi jī chuān guò Yún xiāo, xiàng yuǎn fāng fēi qù.
The plane pierced the clouds and flew into the distance.
云霄，。
Tā tái tóu yǎng wàng Yún xiāo, xīn zhōng gǎn kǎi wàn qiān.
He looked up at the sky, filled with myriad emotions.
霄，。
Zhè zuò shān gāo sǒng rù Yún xiāo, shí fēn zhuàng guān.
This mountain soars into the clouds, extremely magnificent.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

霄xiāosky

云 “cloud” and 霄 “sky” are parallel, together meaning the high heavens.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 雲; 云 is its simplified writing.

雨云雲

The traditional form 雲 is 雨 (rain) plus 云; 云 was the original writing for 'cloud', and 雨 was added to separate it from the borrowed sense 'to say'.

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

雨肖霄

Meaning part形符xíngfú

雨雨yǔrain

Sound part声符shēngfú

肖

Same sound today

In 霄, the top part 雨 (rain) sits above the lower part 肖, which gives the sound.

Appears in