夜叉 (yè chà) — (Buddhist mythology) yaksha — a type of spirit that can be either a demon or a guardian deity; (figurative) an ugly, ferocious person; monster

Definition

夜叉 (yèchà) is the Buddhist term for a yaksha — a spirit that can be either a fearsome demon or a guardian deity. As a metaphor, it describes a person who is ugly and terrifying in temper.

noun
(Buddhist mythology) yaksha — a type of spirit that can be either a demon or a guardian deity(figurative) an uglyferocious personmonster
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 夜叉。
    Fó jiào de sì miào lǐ yǒu shí huì kàn dào yè chà de diāo xiàng.
    In Buddhist temples, you can sometimes see statues of yakshas.
  • 夜叉，。
    Tā fā qǐ pí qi lái jiù xiàng gè yè chà, shuí dōu bù gǎn kào jìn.
    When he loses his temper, he's like a monster — no one dares go near him.
  • ，夜叉。
    Gǔ dài chuán shuō zhōng, yè chà shì yì zhǒng chī rén de yāo mó.
    In ancient legends, the yaksha is a man-eating demon.

Origin

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.

夜yè
叉chā

The characters carry no meaning here; 夜叉 spells the foreign term yaksha.

Sound-only characters

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
夕夕xīmoon
Sound part声符shēngfú
亦
亦yì夜yè
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The form 夜 pairs 亦 as a sound part with 夕 as a moon part, for night. In the modern shape, the 亦 part is broken up and one stroke merges into 夕.

Open 夜 →

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

The form 叉 is made by combining 又 with the dot stroke 丶.

Open 叉 →

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