元旦 (Yuán dàn) — New Year's Day | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

元旦 is New Year's Day on January 1 (Gregorian calendar). 新年 is the looser 'New Year' used for the holiday season; 年初 just means 'early in the year', and 正月 is the lunar new year period.

noun

New Year's Day

Examples

元旦。
Yuán dàn Nà tiān wǒ men qù kàn diàn yǐng.
On New Year's Day we go to watch a movie.
元旦？
Nǐ Yuán dàn yǒu shén me jì huà?
What plans do you have for New Year's Day?
元旦。
Yuán dàn Shì yì nián de kāi shǐ.
New Year's Day is the beginning of the year.

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 (first) plus 旦 (day) gives the first day 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.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

丁

丁dīng旦dàn

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

旦 combines 日 (sun/day) with 丁 as a sound part; the story about the sun rising over a line is not the original explanation.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 5 HSK 2.0 Level 5 Festivals & Holidays

Browse more HSK 5 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.