儿童节 (Er tóng jié) — Children's Day (observed on June 1 in China)

Definition

noun
Children's Day (observed on June 1 in China)

Examples

  • 儿童节，。
    Liù yuè yí rì shì Er tóng jié, hái zi men dōu hěn kāi xīn.
    June 1st is Children's Day, and the kids are all very happy.
  • 儿童节，。
    Er tóng jié Nà tiān, xué xiào gěi měi gè xué shēng sòng le yí fèn lǐ wù.
    On Children's Day, the school gave each student a gift.
  • 儿童节。
    Wǒ men dǎ suàn dài hái zi men qù gōng yuán qìng zhù Er tóng jié.
    We plan to take the kids to the park to celebrate Children's Day.

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.

儿童children
儿érchild童tóngchild
联合Side by side
节jiéfestival

儿童 means children, and 节 is a festival, so it names Children's Day.

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.

Open 儿 →

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

  • 䇂䇂䇂chisel
  • 見見jiànkneeling person with a huge eye

The form 童 comes from a pairing of 䇂 (a chisel) with 見 (a kneeling person with a huge eye), depicting a person having an eye gouged out.

Open 童 →

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 節; 节 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
⺮Written in full as竹zhúbamboo
Sound part声符shēngfú
即
即jí節jié
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 節 pairs ⺮ (bamboo) with 即, which gives the sound; the bamboo part points to a node of bamboo. The simplified 节 is a later abbreviation.

Open 节 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.