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大红 (dà hóng) — crimson; deep red

Definition

A vivid, intense red — 'crimson.' Used mainly as a modifier before nouns (大红 + N) for clothing, decorations, and festive contexts like Spring Festival.

adjective
crimsondeep red

Examples

  • 大红。
    Zhè jiàn dà hóng de yī fu zhēn piào liang.
    This crimson piece of clothing is really beautiful.
  • 大红。
    Tā zuì xǐ huan dà hóng de méi gui.
    He likes crimson roses the most.
  • ，大红。
    Chūn jié shí, mén shàng guà le hěn duō dà hóng de dēng long.
    During Spring Festival, many crimson lanterns were hung on the door.

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.

大dàlarge or deep
红hóngred

大 means large or deep, and 红 means red, so it names a deep red color.

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.

Open 大 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 紅; 红 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糸糸mìsilk
Sound part声符shēngfú
工
工gōng紅hóng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 紅 puts 糸 (silk) next to 工, which gives the sound; the simplified 红 is a later shorthand.

Open 红 →
Appears in
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