仰天 (yǎng tiān) — to look up at the sky; to raise one's face to the sky

Definition

Literary/literary-style verb meaning to lift one's face to the sky, often used to express strong emotion (sighing, laughing, or lamenting) in writing.

verb
to look up at the skyto raise one's face to the sky

Examples

  • 仰天。
    Tā yí gè rén zhàn zài shān dǐng yǎng tiān.
    He stood alone on the mountaintop looking up at the sky.
  • ，。
    Tā yǎng le yí xià tiān, shēn shēn de tàn le kǒu qì.
    He looked up at the sky once and sighed deeply.
  • 仰天，。
    Tā yǎng tiān dà xiào, xiào dé hěn kāi xīn.
    She threw her head back and laughed heartily.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

仰yǎnglook up
天tiānsky

Looking up is directed toward the sky.

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
卬
卬áng仰yǎng
Same sound today

In 仰, the left part 亻 represents a person, and the right part 卬 gives the sound.

Open 仰 →

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
大大dà
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng天tiān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape comes from a frontal standing man 大 with a head; 天 pairs 大 with 丁 for sound.

Open 天 →

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