剪影 (jiǎn yǐng) — paper-cut silhouette; outline; sketch (figurative)

Definition

A paper-cut silhouette or a quick outline/sketch. Used literally for scissor-cut shadow portraits and figuratively for a brief sketch of a person, era, or scene.

noun
paper-cut silhouetteoutlinesketch (figurative)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 剪影，。
    Zhè fú jiǎn yǐng shì yí wèi lǎo yì rén jiǎn de, fēi cháng jīng zhì.
    This paper-cut silhouette was made by an old artisan; it's very delicate.
  • 剪影。
    Zhè bù xiǎo shuō shì nà ge shí dài de shè huì jiǎn yǐng.
    This novel is a social sketch of that era.
  • 剪影。
    Tā zhǐ yòng jǐ bǐ jiù huà chū le rén wù de jiǎn yǐng.
    He sketched the outline of the character with just a few strokes.

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.

剪jiǎncut
影yǐngshadow

“剪” suggests cutting out and “影” the shadow, together giving a silhouette or outline.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
刀刀dāoknife
Sound part声符shēngfú
歬
歬qián剪jiǎn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 剪, 刀 is the knife part and 歬 gives the sound. After 前 came to replace 歬, another 刀 was added to 剪.

Open 剪 →

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
彡彡shān
Sound part声符shēngfú
景
景jǐng影yǐng
Same sound today

影 pairs 景, which gives the sound and also carries the idea of image, with 彡, the part that points to shadow.

Open 影 →

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