吉祥物 (jí xiáng wù) — mascot | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

mascot

Measure word · 个

Examples

吉祥物。
Běi jīng ào yùn huì de jí xiáng wù shì yì zhī xióng māo.
The Beijing Olympics mascot is a panda.
吉祥物“”。
Zhè ge jí xiáng wù de míng zì jiào "huān huān".
This mascot's name is Huanhuan.
吉祥物。
Měi gè xué xiào dōu yǒu zì jǐ de jí xiáng wù.
Every school has its own mascot.

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.

吉祥auspicious

吉jíauspicious祥xiángauspicious

联合Coordinate

物wùobject

吉 and 祥 both mean auspicious, and 物 is an object, so the whole is an auspicious object.

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.

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

示示shìaltar

Sound part声符shēngfú

羊

羊yáng祥xiáng

Same sound today

祥 pairs 示 (altar) with 羊 for its sound. Originally it was just 羊, and 示 was added later to distinguish it.

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

牛勿物

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

勿

勿wù物wù

Same sound today

物 puts 牛 beside 勿: 牛 gives the meaning, and 勿 gives the sound.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Chinese Culture & Customs

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