吉卜赛人 (jí bǔ sài rén) — Gypsy; Romani people

Definition

noun

GypsyRomani people

吉卜赛人，。
jí bǔ sài rén Shì yí gè liú làng de mín zú, yǒu zhe dú tè de wén huà chuán tǒng.
The Romani are a wandering ethnic group with a unique cultural tradition.
吉卜赛人，。
Tā de zǔ mǔ shì jí bǔ sài rén, suǒ yǐ tā huì chàng hěn duō chuán tǒng de gē qǔ.
Her grandmother is a Gypsy, so she can sing many traditional songs.
吉卜赛人，。
Zhè bù xiǎo shuō miáo xiě le yí gè jí bǔ sài rén jiā tíng de gù shi, fēi cháng gǎn rén.
This novel tells the story of a Romani family and is very moving.

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.

吉卜赛

吉卜赛 spells Gypsy, and 人 means people.

Characters in this word

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

In the earliest forms, 吉 was drawn with a mouth-like lower part and an upper part that later became today's upper shape.

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

卜 is thought to come from the shape of a crack in an oracle bone, which was used for predicting the future.

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 賽; 赛 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

貝貝bèishell

Sound part声符shēngfú

塞

Same sound today

The traditional form 賽 uses 貝 (shell) for meaning and 塞 for sound. The simplified 赛 is a later shorthand.

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.