儿歌 (ér gē) — children's songs; nursery rhymes | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

children's songsnursery rhymes

Measure word · 首

Examples

儿歌。
Xiǎo péng yǒu men zhèng zài xué chàng yì shǒu xīn de ér gē.
The children are learning to sing a new nursery rhyme.
儿歌。
Mā ma měi tiān wǎn shàng dōu gěi hái zi chàng ér gē.
Mom sings children's songs to the kid every night.
儿歌。
Zhè běn ér gē jí lǐ yǒu hěn duō jīng diǎn de qǔ zi.
This collection of nursery rhymes has many classic tunes.

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.

儿 (child) and 歌 (song) combine to mean songs for children.

Characters in this word

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

The shape 儿 is a simple drawing of a standing person, used as an alternate form of the character for person.

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

哥欠歌

Meaning part形符xíngfú

欠欠qiànblow

Sound part声符shēngfú

哥

哥gē歌gē

Same sound today

The shape 歌 uses 哥 for the sound and 欠, meaning blow. It came from a form of 哥 used for singing.

Appears in

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