天文 (tiān wén) — astronomy

Definition

noun
astronomy
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 天文
    Tā cóng xiǎo jiù duì tiān wén gǎn xìng qù, suǒ yǐ dà xué xuǎn le xiāng guān zhuān yè.
    He has been interested in astronomy since childhood, so he chose a related major in college.
  • 天文
    Zuó wǎn wǒ men yòng wàng yuǎn jìng guān cè le tiān wén xiàn xiàng.
    Last night we used a telescope to observe an astronomical phenomenon.
  • 天文
    Zhè bù jì lù piàn jiè shào le xǔ duō tiān wén zhī shi.
    This documentary introduced a lot of astronomy knowledge.

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.

wénpatterns

“天” names the sky, and “文” refers to patterns seen there.

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
Sound part声符shēngfú
dīngtiān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape comes from a frontal standing man 大 with a head; 天 pairs 大 with 丁 for sound.

Open 天 →

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

The current form 文 shows a man with head, arms, legs, and chest; the tattoo marks on the chest are no longer drawn.

Open 文 →

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