全貌 (quán mào) — complete picture; full view (literal or figurative)

Definition

'The complete picture' of something — the whole situation, not just part of it. Use it when you want to stress seeing or showing everything at once, often abstract.

noun
complete picturefull view (literal or figurative)

Examples

  • 全貌。
    Cóng shān dǐng shàng kě yǐ kàn dào chéng shì de quán mào.
    From the mountaintop you can see the full view of the city.
  • 全貌。
    Wǒ men xū yào liǎo jiě shì qing de quán mào cái néng zuò jué dìng.
    We need to understand the full picture of the matter before making a decision.
  • 全貌。
    Zhè piān wén zhāng zhǎn shì le wèn tí de quán mào.
    This article shows the complete picture of the problem.

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.

全quánwhole
貌màoappearance

全 (whole) and 貌 (appearance) together give the complete picture or view.

Characters in this word

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

The shape puts 入 together with 玉 to show a whole piece of jade, so it means complete or whole.

Open 全 →

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
皃皃màolooks
Sound part声符shēngfú
豹
豹bào貌
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

貌 uses 皃, an older picture of a face, to show looks, and 豹 as a sound part.

Open 貌 →

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