奇事 (qí shì) — strange affair; unusual phenomenon

Definition

noun

strange affairunusual phenomenon

Easily confused

奇事，。
Zuó tiān fā shēng le yí jiàn qí shì, qǐng dà jiā bú yào jīng huāng.
A strange affair happened yesterday; please don't panic.
奇事。
Kē xué jiā men zhèng zài yán jiū zhè ge qí shì de chéng yīn.
Scientists are studying the cause of this unusual phenomenon.
奇事。
Quán cūn rén dōu gǎn lái wéi guān zhè jiàn qí shì.
The whole village came to watch this strange affair.

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.

奇qístrange

奇 means strange and 事 means affair, giving 奇事 as a strange affair or unusual phenomenon.

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.

大可奇

Meaning part形符xíngfú

大大dàbig; great

Sound part声符shēngfú

可

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

奇 pairs 大 (big; great) with 可, a sound part.

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

In 事, 又 is a hand and 中 is a flagpole with a drum; holding a flag in hand depicts performing a job.