大洋 (dà yáng) — ocean; silver dollar (historical Chinese curren… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Literary/formal word for 'ocean', written rather than spoken; in historical contexts it also means a silver dollar coin.

noun

oceansilver dollar (historical Chinese currency)

Measure word · 片

Examples

大洋。
Zhè piàn dà yáng fēi cháng guǎng kuò.
This ocean is very vast.
大洋。
Yé ye shōu cáng le yì méi qīng dài de dà yáng.
Grandpa collected a Qing dynasty silver dollar.
大洋。
Chuán bó zài dà yáng shàng háng xíng le hǎo jǐ tiān.
The ship sailed on the ocean for several days.

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.

Big and ocean give the great ocean, also a large foreign silver coin.

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.

氵羊洋

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

羊

羊yáng洋yáng

Same sound today

洋 pairs 氵, the water part, with 羊 to give its sound.

Appears in

Geography & Landforms Money & Currency

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