孩童 (hái tóng) — children (literary, formal) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Literary, written-word choice for 'children' — more formal than the everyday 孩子. Common in books, news, and official texts rather than daily speech.

noun

children (literary, formal)

Measure word · 个

Examples

孩童。
Zhè běn shū miáo huì le hái tóng shí dài de kuài lè shēng huó.
This book depicts the happy life of childhood.
孩童。
Zhèng fǔ yīng gāi bǎo hù hái tóng de ān quán hé quán yì.
The government should protect the safety and rights of children.
孩童。
Zhè xiē hái tóng zài cǎo dì shàng wán shuǎ.
These children are playing on the grass.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

Both 孩 and 童 mean child, so the word forms a formal way to say children.

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.

子亥孩

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

亥

亥hài孩hái

Same sound today

In 孩, the left part 子 shows a child, while the right part 亥 supplies the sound.

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

䇂䇂䇂chisel
見見jiànkneeling person with a huge eye

The form 童 comes from a pairing of 䇂 (a chisel) with 見 (a kneeling person with a huge eye), depicting a person having an eye gouged out.

Appears in

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