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佳丽 (jiā lì) — (literary, adjective or noun) beautiful; a beauty

Definition

Literary word almost always referring to women — 'beauty' (the person) or 'beautiful (woman)'. Used in writing about pageants, palaces, and poetry, never in casual speech.

adjective
(literary, adjective or noun) beautifula beauty

Examples

  • ，佳丽。
    Xuǎn měi dà sài shàng, jiā lì rú yún.
    At the beauty pageant, there were beauties everywhere.
  • 佳丽。
    Zhè shǒu shī miáo xiě le yí wèi jué dài jiā lì.
    This poem describes a peerless beauty.
  • ，。
    Gōng tíng zhōng jiā lì zhòng duō, què wú rén néng jiě jūn wáng zhī yōu.
    The palace was filled with beauties, yet none could ease the king's sorrow.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

佳jiābeautiful
丽lìbeautiful

佳 and 丽 both mean beautiful, so together they intensify beauty.

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
人人rénman; person
Sound part声符shēngfú
圭
圭guī佳jiā
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

佳 combines 人 (person) with 圭, which is used for the sound guī.

Open 佳 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 麗; 丽 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 麗 originally showed a deer with antlers. The simplified 丽 is a later shorthand.

Open 丽 →
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