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天赋 (tiān fù) — gift; innate talent

Definition

天赋 is a built-in, inborn ability — the talent itself, not a present (礼物) and not the person who has it (天才). 资质 is more about potential/credentials; 天分 is a close synonym.

giftinnate talent

Examples

  • 天赋。
    Tā duì yīn yuè yǒu hěn gāo de tiān fù.
    He has a great gift for music.
  • 天赋。
    Tā de yǔ yán tiān fù ràng lǎo shī hěn jīng yà.
    Her linguistic talent surprised the teacher.
  • 天赋。
    Zhè ge hái zi cóng xiǎo jiù xiǎn lù chū huì huà tiān fù.
    This child showed a talent for painting from an early age.

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.

天tiānheaven
赋fùendow

天 and 赋 evoke an endowment from heaven, meaning innate talent.

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
大大dà
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng天tiān
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 →

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 賦; 赋 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
貝貝bèishell; money
Sound part声符shēngfú
武
武wǔ賦fù
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

For 赋, the form 賦 has 貝 (shell; money) contributing to the meaning of collecting taxes, while 武 gives the sound.

Open 赋 →
Appears in
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