史诗 (shǐ shī) — epic (a long narrative poem or comparable work…

Definition

noun

epic (a long narrative poem or comparable work in literature, film, etc.)

Measure word · 部

《》史诗。
《Ào dé sài》 shì yí bù gǔ xī là de shǐ shī.
The Odyssey is an ancient Greek epic.
史诗。
Zhè bù diàn yǐng bèi chēng wéi zhàn zhēng shǐ shī.
This film is called a war epic.
史诗。
Tā zhèng zài xiě yí bù guān yú táng cháo de shǐ shī.
He is writing an epic about the Tang Dynasty.

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.

「史」 means history and 「诗」 means poem, so it is a poem about historical deeds.

Characters in this word

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

The old drawing showed someone holding a flag-like or writing tool, indicating the act of recording events; the exact inner shape is unclear.

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 詩; 诗 is its simplified writing.

言寺詩

Meaning part形符xíngfú

言言yánspeech

Sound part声符shēngfú

寺

寺sì詩shī

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 詩 combines 言 (speech) with 寺 as a sound part, because poetry is a kind of speech; the simplified 诗 is a later abbreviation.

Appears in