图腾 (tú téng) — totem (natural object or animal believed to hav…

Definition

noun

totem (natural object or animal believed to have spiritual significance to a clan or group)

图腾。
Zhè ge bù luò de tú téng shì yì zhī láng.
This tribe's totem is a wolf.
图腾。
Gǔ dài de zhōng guó rén yě shǐ yòng tú téng zuò wéi bù zú biāo zhì.
Ancient Chinese also used totems as clan symbols.
图腾。
Zhè zuò bó wù guǎn zhǎn lǎn le xǔ duō měi zhōu yuán zhù mín de tú téng.
This museum exhibits many Native American totems.

Single-morpheme word

构词法gòucífǎ

音译yīnyìTransliteration

The characters spell the sound of a foreign word; their individual meanings play no part.

图腾 spells the foreign word for totem; the characters 图 and 腾 carry no meaning of their own here.

Sound-only characters

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 圖; 图 is its simplified writing.

囗啚圖

The traditional form 圖 pairs 囗, a walled city, with 啚, an early form meaning remote areas or territory. The simplified 图 is a later abbreviation.

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 騰; 腾 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

馬馬mǎhorse

Sound part声符shēngfú

朕

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 騰 pairs 馬 (horse) with 朕 as a sound part; it described a horse's gallop or prance. The simplified 腾 is a later shorthand.

Appears in