启明星 (qǐ míng xīng) — Venus (as the morning star)

Definition

Literary/poetic name for Venus when seen as the morning star (just before sunrise). The standard astronomical name is 金星.

noun

Venus (as the morning star)

Measure word · 颗

，启明星。
Tiān kuài liàng le, qǐ míng xīng zài dōng fāng shǎn shǎn fā guāng.
It's almost dawn; the morning star is twinkling in the east.
启明星。
Gǔ rén bǎ qǐ míng xīng kàn zuò guāng míng de xiàng zhēng.
Ancient people regarded the morning star as a symbol of light.
，启明星。
Zài qíng lǎng de zǎo chén, nǐ hěn róng yì kàn dào qǐ míng xīng.
On a clear morning, you can easily see the morning star.

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.

启明dawn

联合Side by side

“启明” combines open and bright for dawn, and “星” means star.

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 啟; 启 is its simplified writing.

For 启, the traditional form 啟 comes from an earlier shape with 戶 (door) and 又 (hand), showing a hand opening a door.

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

日月明

明 combines 日 (sun) and 月 (moon), showing the sun just rising while the moon has not yet set, or two bright objects in the sky, to express brightness.

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

The top of 星 is a later simplified form of 晶, twinkling stars; the bottom 生 shows the sound.