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凯歌 (kǎi gē) — song of triumph, victory song

Definition

A 'song of triumph' — celebrates winning a war, competition, or major victory. More formal and literary than everyday 胜利; usually written or sung, not casually spoken.

noun
song of triumphvictory song
Measure word · 首

Examples

  • 凯歌。
    Tā men chàng kǎi gē qìng zhù shèng lì.
    They sang victory songs to celebrate their triumph.
  • 凯歌，。
    Tīng dào kǎi gē, dà jiā dōu hěn gāo xìng.
    Hearing the victory song, everyone was very happy.
  • 凯歌。
    Tā wèi bǐ sài xiě le zhè shǒu kǎi gē.
    He wrote this victory song for the competition.

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.

凯kǎitriumphal
歌gēsong

凯 carries the sense of triumph, and 歌 means song; together they denote a song celebrating victory.

Characters in this word

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 凱; 凯 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
豈豈qǐdrum
Sound part声符shēngfú
几
几jǐ凱kǎi
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 凱 may have been built from 豈, a drum, and 几 to give the sound; the simplified 凯 is a later abbreviation.

Open 凯 →

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
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.

Open 歌 →
Appears in
MusicSuccess & Failure

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