五六点 (wǔ liù diǎn) — around five or six o'clock

Definition

A time-expression meaning 'around five or six o'clock' — the points (点) are dropped, common in casual speech. Unlike a clock time like 五点, it signals a rough window, not a fixed hour.

noun
around five or six o'clock

Examples

  • 五六点。
    Wǒ men míng tiān wǔ liù diǎn zài mén kǒu jiàn miàn ba.
    Let's meet at the door around five or six tomorrow.
  • 五六点。
    Tā měi tiān zǎo shàng wǔ liù diǎn jiù qǐ chuáng duàn liàn.
    He gets up and exercises around five or six every morning.
  • 五六点，。
    Xià wǔ wǔ liù diǎn de shí hou, chāo shì rén zuì duō.
    The supermarket is most crowded around five or six in the afternoon.

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.

五六five or six
五wǔfive六liùsix
联合Side by side
点diǎno'clock

五六 (five or six) with 点 (o'clock) gives around five or six o'clock.

Characters in this word

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

An older form had a crossed mark between a top bar and a bottom bar. The modern 五 keeps those bars, while the original idea is uncertain.

Open 五 →

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

The shape of 六 may come from a simple drawing of a shed, or from an ancient counting mark.

Open 六 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 點; 点 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
黑黑hēiblack
Sound part声符shēngfú
占
占zhàn點diǎn(r)
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 點 pairs 黑 (black) with 占 for its sound; the simplified 点 is a later abbreviation.

Open 点 →

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