奇才 (qí cái) — rare talent; genius | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

rare talentgenius

Measure word · 个

Examples

奇才。
Tā shì yí wèi zhēn zhèng de qí cái.
He is a true genius.
奇才。
Zhè wèi qí cái zài yīn yuè fāng miàn yǒu jīng rén de tiān fù.
This genius has amazing talent in music.
奇才，。
Lì shǐ shàng yǒu hěn duō qí cái, tā men de gòng xiàn gǎi biàn le shì jiè.
History has many rare talents whose contributions changed the world.

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.

奇qíextraordinary

奇 means extraordinary and 才 means talent; together they name a rare genius.

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.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

才 originally drew a sharp peg, not a sprout growing from the ground.

Appears in

People (General)

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