夜色 (yè sè) — dim light of night; night scene | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

dim light of nightnight scene

Examples

夜色，。
yè sè Hěn měi, wǒ men chū qù zǒu zǒu ba.
The night scene is beautiful; let's go out for a walk.
，夜色。
Tā zhàn zài chuāng qián, wàng zhe chuāng wài de yè sè.
He stood by the window, looking at the night scene outside.
夜色，。
yè sè Zhōng, yuǎn chù de dēng guāng xiàng xīng xing yí yàng shǎn shuò.
In the dim night light, the distant lights twinkled like stars.

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.

The color or look of night gives the sense of a night scene.

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.

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

爪爪zhuǎclaw; hand
卩卩jiékneeling person

色 pairs 爪 (a hand) with 卩 (a kneeling person), showing a hand pressing down on the kneeling person.

Appears in

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