双人滑 (shuāng rén huá) — pair skating

Definition

noun
pair skating
Measure word · 项

Examples

  • 双人滑。
    Wǒ zuì xǐ huan de huā yàng huá bīng xiàng mù shì shuāng rén huá.
    My favorite figure skating discipline is pair skating.
  • 双人滑。
    Tā men liǎ liàn xí shuāng rén huá yǐ jīng yǒu shí nián le.
    The two of them have been practicing pair skating for ten years.
  • 双人滑。
    Huā yàng huá bīng de shuāng rén huá xū yào liǎng rén pèi hé dé fēi cháng mò qì.
    Pair skating in figure skating requires the two people to cooperate very tacitly.

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.

双人two people
双shuāngtwo人rénperson
偏正Modifier + head
滑huáskate

双人 (two people) + 滑 (skate): skating performed by a pair.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

双 is made of two 又 parts side by side. Repeating 又 gives the sense of a pair.

Open 双 →

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
水水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
骨
骨gǔ滑huá
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

滑 pairs 水 (water) with 骨, which gives the sound.

Open 滑 →

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