安眠 (ān mián) — to sleep peacefully (formal/literary) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Formal/literary 'to sleep peacefully', often used in medical or written contexts (e.g. 安眠药 'sleeping pill'). For everyday speech, use 睡觉.

verb

to sleep peacefully (formal/literary)

Examples

安眠。
Tā zuó wǎn ān mián le zhěng zhěng bā gè xiǎo shí.
He slept peacefully for a full eight hours last night.
安眠。
Yī shēng jiàn yì chī zhè zhǒng yào lái bāng zhù ān mián.
The doctor recommends taking this medicine to help sleep peacefully.
，安眠。
Zài zhè ge ān jìng de fáng jiān lǐ, tā hěn kuài jiù ān mián le.
In this quiet room, she quickly fell into a peaceful sleep.

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.

安ānpeaceful

安 gives the idea of peacefulness, while 眠 refers to sleep; together they mean sleeping without disturbance.

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.

宀女安

Meaning part形符xíngfú

宀宀mián

Sound part声符shēngfú

女

女nǚ安ān

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

In 安, 宀 sits above a seated 女 on a cushion; 宀 is the meaning part, 女 is the sound part, and the character originally meant sitting at ease.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

目民眠

Meaning part形符xíngfú

目目mùeye

Sound part声符shēngfú

民

民mín眠mián

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

眠 uses 目 (eye) to show the idea of closing the eyes, with 民 giving the sound.

Appears in

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