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女贞 (nǚ zhēn) — glossy privet (Ligustrum lucidum, an evergreen shrub/tree used in landscaping and traditional Chinese medicine)

Definition

noun
glossy privet (Ligustrum lucidum, an evergreen shrub/tree used in landscaping and traditional Chinese medicine)
Measure word · 棵

Examples

  • 女贞，。
    Xiào yuán lǐ zhǒng le hěn duō nǚ zhēn, sì jì cháng qīng.
    Many glossy privets are planted on campus, staying green all year round.
  • 女贞。
    nǚ zhēn De guǒ shí kě yǐ zuò zhōng yào.
    The fruit of the glossy privet can be used as Chinese herbal medicine.
  • 女贞。
    Zhè zhǒng nǚ zhēn zài nán fāng hěn cháng jiàn.
    This kind of glossy privet is very common in the south.

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.

女nǚfemale
贞zhēnchaste

The name uses 女, 'female', and 贞, 'chaste', though the plant sense is opaque.

Characters in this word

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

女 shows a woman with folded arms, kneeling or standing. In the modern form the figure faces right, and the small enclosed part is what is left of one arm.

Open 女 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 貞; 贞 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 貞 grew from a picture of a ding tripod, later changed for divination, and its lower part became unrelated to that picture; the simplified 贞 is a shorthand.

Open 贞 →
Appears in
Plants & Flowers

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