前夫 (qián fū) — ex-husband, former husband

Definition

noun

ex-husbandformer husband

Measure word · 个

前夫。
Tā de qián fū shì yí wèi chéng gōng de shāng rén.
Her ex-husband is a successful businessman.
，前夫。
Lí hūn hòu, tā cóng bù tí qǐ qián fū.
After the divorce, she never mentions her ex-husband.
前夫。
Tā qián fū měi gè yuè dōu huì lái kàn hái zi.
Her ex-husband comes to see the child every month.

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.

夫fūhusband

前 means former and 夫 means husband, so the word names a husband from a past marriage.

Characters in this word

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

In the older form of 前, 止 (foot) and 舟 (boat) showed a foot on a boat moving forward; in the current 前 those parts are shortened.

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

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

夫 originally drew a man. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write a pronoun, so the picture and the pronoun meaning are unrelated.

Appears in