名诗 (míng shī) — famous poem | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A 'famous poem' — used as a literary category rather than a title. 诗 alone means any poem; 名诗 specifically marks one as well-known or canonical.

noun

famous poem

Measure word · 首

Easily confused

名诗。
Zhè shǒu míng shī shì táng dài shī rén xiě de.
This famous poem was written by a Tang dynasty poet.
名诗。
Lǎo shī ràng wǒ men bèi yì shǒu míng shī.
The teacher asked us to memorize a famous poem.
名诗。
Tā zuì xǐ huan lǐ bái de míng shī.
He likes Li Bai's famous poems the most.

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.

名 (famous) narrows 诗 (poem) to a famous poem.

Characters in this word

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

夕口名

名 puts 夕 (crescent moon) above 口 (mouth), showing a name spoken in the dark.

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.