十五日 (shí wǔ rì) — the 15th day of a month

Definition

noun
the 15th day of a month

Examples

  • 十五日。
    Wǒ men shí wǔ rì chū fā.
    We depart on the 15th.
  • 十五日。
    Měi yuè shí wǔ rì wǒ men kāi huì.
    We have a meeting on the 15th of every month.
  • 十五日。
    Zhè ge zuò yè de jié zhǐ rì qī shì shí wǔ rì.
    The deadline for this homework is the 15th.

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.

十五fifteen
十shíten五wǔfive
联合Side by side
日rìday

十五 and 日 combine to mean the fifteenth day.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

The early shape 十 was mostly a single vertical stroke, sometimes with a dot, and later gained a horizontal stroke to form a cross. For the number ten, it marked the next digit above one.

Open 十 →

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

An older form had a crossed mark between a top bar and a bottom bar. The modern 五 keeps those bars, while the original idea is uncertain.

Open 五 →

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

日 originally drew the sun. A mark was added inside to tell it apart from similar square shapes.

Open 日 →

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