午夜 (wǔ yè) — midnight | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

midnight

Examples

午夜。
wǔ yè De jiē dào hěn ān jìng.
The streets are very quiet at midnight.
午夜。
Tā měi tiān gōng zuò dào wǔ yè cái huí jiā.
He works until midnight every day before going home.
午夜，。
wǔ yè Zhōng shēng xiǎng qǐ shí, dà jiā huān hū qǐ lái.
When the midnight bell rang, everyone cheered.

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.

The 'noon' part points to the middle of the 'night', hence midnight.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 午 comes from a drawing of a pestle, a heavy tool used for pounding.

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

夕夕xīmoon

Sound part声符shēngfú

亦

亦yì夜yè

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

The form 夜 pairs 亦 as a sound part with 夕 as a moon part, for night. In the modern shape, the 亦 part is broken up and one stroke merges into 夕.

Appears in

Time of Day 5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.