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夜曲 (yè qǔ) — nocturne (a short, lyrical piece of music, typically for piano, that evokes night)

Definition

A loanword from Western music for a ‘nocturne’ — a short, lyrical piano piece evoking night. Closest everyday term is 小夜曲 (a serenading song); 夜曲 is more a composed instrumental work than a song.

noun
nocturne (a short, lyrical piece of music, typically for piano, that evokes night)
Measure word · 首

Examples

  • 夜曲。
    Wǒ xǐ huan tīng xiāo bāng de yè qǔ.
    I like listening to Chopin's nocturnes.
  • 夜曲。
    Tā zuó wǎn zài yīn yuè tīng yǎn zòu le yì shǒu yè qǔ.
    He performed a nocturne at the concert hall last night.
  • 夜曲。
    Zhè shǒu yè qǔ de xuán lǜ fēi cháng yōu měi.
    The melody of this nocturne is very beautiful.

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.

夜yènight
曲qǔtune

夜 gives night and 曲 gives a tune, making a nocturne.

Characters in this word

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 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

曲 is drawn as a bent object, matching the meaning 'bend'.

Open 曲 →
Appears in
Music

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