十秒 (shí miǎo) — ten seconds | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

ten seconds

Examples

十秒。
Bǐ sài zhī shèng xià shí miǎo le.
The competition only has ten seconds left.
十秒。
Tā pǎo le shí miǎo jiù pǎo bú dòng le.
He ran for ten seconds and then couldn't run anymore.
十秒。
Zài děng shí miǎo jiù hǎo.
Just wait ten more seconds and it'll be done.

Origin

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 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

禾少秒

Meaning part形符xíngfú

禾禾hécereal; grain

Sound part声符shēngfú

少

少shǎo秒miǎo

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The form 秒 pairs 禾, a cereal or grain plant, with 少 giving the sound.

Open 秒 →

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