单人舞 (dān rén wǔ) — solo dance

Definition

noun
solo dance
Measure word · 支

Examples

  • 单人舞。
    Tā biǎo yǎn le yì zhī dān rén wǔ.
    He performed a solo dance.
  • 单人舞。
    Zhè chǎng dān rén wǔ bǐ sài fēi cháng jīng cǎi.
    This solo dance competition was very exciting.
  • 单人舞。
    dān rén wǔ Xū yào wǔ zhě yǒu hěn qiáng de biǎo xiàn lì.
    Solo dance requires the dancer to have strong expressiveness.

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.

单人single person
单dānsingle人rénperson
偏正Modifier + head
舞wǔdance

单人 means one person, and 舞 means dance; together they name a dance performed by one person.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 單; 单 is its simplified writing.

The form 單 originally pictured a Y-shaped wooden stick with two stones on top.

Open 单 →

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →

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
舛舛chuǎnsteps, feet in convergent direction
Sound part声符shēngfú
無
無wú舞wǔ
Same sound today

舞 combines 舛, showing feet in converging steps, with 無 above. 無 gave the sound and also preserved its older meaning of dancing, so the shape points to dancing.

Open 舞 →

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