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台词 (tái cí) — actor's lines, dialogue (in a play, film, or TV show)

Definition

noun
actor's linesdialogue (in a play, film, or TV show)
Measure word · 句

Examples

  • 台词，。
    Yǎn yuán zài hòu tái jì tái cí, zhǔn bèi shàng tái.
    The actor is memorizing lines backstage, getting ready to go on stage.
  • 台词。
    Zhè bù diàn yǐng de tái cí xiě dé fēi cháng gǎn rén.
    The dialogue of this movie is written very movingly.
  • 台词，。
    Tā lín chǎng wàng le tái cí, zhǐ hǎo jí xìng fā huī.
    He forgot his lines on the spot and had to improvise.

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.

台táistage
词cíword

The 'stage' part narrows the 'word' part to an actor's lines.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 臺; 台 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 台 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (窗台, 电视台) it is 臺; in others (台灯, 台球) (台风) it is 檯 or 台 or 颱.

The traditional form 臺 is the 喬 + 室 form; earlier versions combined a sound part with 室, and an old reading saw it as a watch tower.

Open 台 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 詞; 词 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánspeech
Sound part声符shēngfú
司
司sī詞cí(r)
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 詞 uses 言, meaning speech, and 司 to show how it was pronounced; the simplified 词 is a shorthand, and its right side is not the historical sound part.

Open 词 →
Appears in
Film & Theater5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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