今日 (jīn rì) — today (formal/literary)

Definition

Formal/literary "today," mostly in writing or set phrases. The everyday spoken equivalent is 今天.

noun

today (formal/literary)

今日。
jīn rì De tiān qì hěn hǎo.
The weather today is very good.
今日。
Wǒ men jīn rì yǒu yí gè zhòng yào de huì yì.
We have an important meeting today.
今日？
jīn rì De xīn wén nǐ kàn le ma?
Did you read today's news?

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.

Current plus day points to the day now in progress.

Characters in this word

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

One explanation sees the shape as an upside-down mouth with a line below it, giving the idea of not speaking.

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

日 originally drew the sun. A mark was added inside to tell it apart from similar square shapes.

Appears in