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失聪 (shī cōng) — to lose one's hearing, to become deaf

Definition

Means 'to lose one's hearing / become deaf'. Pairs with 了 (失聪了) to describe the onset of deafness, often due to illness, accident, or age.

verb
to lose one's hearingto become deaf

Examples

  • 失聪。
    Tā yīn wèi yì chǎng yì wài shī cōng le.
    He lost his hearing because of an accident.
  • 失聪，。
    Tā shī cōng le cōng, dàn réng rán hěn lè guān.
    He lost his hearing but is still very optimistic.
  • 失聪。
    Hěn duō rén zhōng nián yǐ hòu huì zhú jiàn shī cōng.
    Many people gradually lose their hearing after middle age.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

失shīlose
聪cōnghearing

失 (lose) takes 聪 (hearing) as its object, giving 'lose one's hearing'.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape is explained as a fallen person's footprint surrounded by drops of blood; another reading pairs 手 (hand) and 乙 to show something falling from a hand.

Open 失 →

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 聰; 聪 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
囪
囪cōng聰cōng
Same sound today

The traditional form 聰 has 耳, the ear, beside a right side made of 囪, a window giving the sound, over 心, the heart; the simplified 聪 is a later abbreviation.

Open 聪 →
Appears in
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