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元宵 (yuán xiāo) — the Lantern Festival (15th day of the first lunar month); sweet glutinous rice balls (eaten during the festival)

Definition

元宵 names both the Lantern Festival (15th day of the lunar new year) and the sweet glutinous-rice dumplings eaten that day — the festival is also called 元宵节.

noun
the Lantern Festival (15th day of the first lunar month)sweet glutinous rice balls (eaten during the festival)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 元宵。
    Jīn nián yuán xiāo shì zài èr yuè dǐ.
    The Lantern Festival falls at the end of February this year.
  • 元宵。
    Mā ma zhǔ le yì wǎn yuán xiāo gěi wǒ men chī.
    Mom cooked a bowl of yuanxiao (rice balls) for us to eat.
  • 元宵。
    yuán xiāo Nà tiān jiē shàng guà mǎn le dēng long.
    On the Lantern Festival, the streets are full of lanterns.

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.

元yuánfirst
宵xiāonight

“元” means first, and “宵” means night; together they name the first full-moon night of the year.

Characters in this word

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

The shape 元 shows a figure with two lines for a head, one connected to the body and one above it, emphasizing the head.

Open 元 →

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
宀宀miánroof
Sound part声符shēngfú
肖
肖xiào宵xiāo
Same sound today

宵 pairs 宀 (roof) with 肖, a part that gives the sound.

Open 宵 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6Festivals & HolidaysFood (General)

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