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代名词 (dài míng cí) — (linguistics) pronoun; (figurative) synonym; byword; term that is synonymous with something

Definition

Literary/Linguistics term: a pronoun in grammar (我/你/他), or figuratively a word or thing that has become synonymous with something else (e.g. the Great Wall is the 代名词 of China).

noun
(linguistics) pronoun(figurative) synonymbywordterm that is synonymous with something
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • ，“”、“”、“”代名词。
    Zài yǔ fǎ zhōng, "wǒ", "nǐ", "tā" dōu shì dài míng cí.
    In grammar, 'I', 'you', and 'he' are all pronouns.
  • 代名词。
    Cháng chéng yǐ jīng chéng wéi zhōng guó de dài míng cí.
    The Great Wall has become synonymous with China.
  • 代名词。
    Tā de qín fèn chéng le chéng gōng de dài míng cí.
    His diligence became synonymous with success.

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.

代dàireplace
名词noun
名míngname词cíword
偏正Modifier + head

代 (replace) modifies 名词 (noun), forming the term for a word that stands in for a noun.

Characters in this word

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
弋
弋yì代dài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 代, 亻 shows a person, and 弋 gives the sound.

Open 代 →

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

名 puts 夕 (crescent moon) above 口 (mouth), showing a name spoken in the dark.

Open 名 →

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 詞; 词 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánspeech
Sound part声符shēngfú
司
司sī詞cí(r)
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 詞 uses 言, meaning speech, and 司 to show how it was pronounced; the simplified 词 is a shorthand, and its right side is not the historical sound part.

Open 词 →
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