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僵尸 (jiāng shī) — zombie; jiangshi (hopping vampire in Chinese folklore); corpse (supernatural context)

Definition

僵尸 (jiāngshī) is the specific hopping vampire of Chinese folklore — stiff, jumps with arms out, not the Western shambling zombie. Use it for undead monsters in Chinese supernatural stories and films.

noun
zombiejiangshi (hopping vampire in Chinese folklore)corpse (supernatural context)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 僵尸。
    Diàn yǐng lǐ yǒu hěn duō jiāng shī cóng fén mù lǐ pá chū lái.
    There are many zombies crawling out of graves in the movie.
  • 僵尸，。
    Tā hài pà kàn jiāng shī piàn, jué de tài kǒng bù le.
    He's afraid to watch zombie movies — he thinks they're too scary.
  • ，僵尸，。
    Chuán shuō zhōng, jiāng shī huì tiào zhe zǒu, bú huì pǎo.
    In legend, jiangshi move by hopping; they don't run.

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.

僵jiāngstiff
尸shīcorpse

“僵” (stiff) describes “尸” (corpse), giving a stiff corpse.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 僵 →

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 屍; 尸 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
死死sǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
尸
尸shī屍shī
Same sound today

The traditional form 屍 pairs 尸 as a sound part with 死 as a meaning part; this evidence does not explain 尸 alone.

Open 尸 →
Appears in
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