大河 (dà hé) — a great river; a large river; (written) the Mig…

Definition

Literary word for a great river; in Chinese culture it most often refers to the Yellow River (黄河) as a symbol of Chinese civilization.

noun

a great rivera large river(written) the Mighty Riveri.e. the Yellow River

Measure word · 条

大河。
Zhè tiáo dà hé liú jīng sān gè shěng fèn.
This great river flows through three provinces.
大河，。
dà hé Bēn liú bù xī, yǎng yù le wú shù shēng mìng.
The mighty river surges onward, nurturing countless lives.
大河。
Lì shǐ shàng dà hé duō cì gǎi dào.
Historically, the Yellow River has changed its course many times.

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.

大 means great, and 河 means river, giving a great river.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

何

Same sound today

河 pairs 水 (water) with 何, which gives the sound. The 水 part marks it as a word for a river.

Appears in