宽衣 (kuān yī) — (polite, formal) to take off one's coat; to loo…

Definition

宽衣 is a formal, polite set phrase — a host saying 'please take off your coat, make yourself comfortable.' It is not used in everyday speech.

verb

(polite, formal) to take off one's coatto loosen one's clothing (as a gesture of comfort)

宽衣，。
Qǐng kuān yī, bú yòng kè qi.
Please take off your coat, make yourself at home.
，。
Tā jìn le mén jiù kuān le yī, zuò zài shā fā shàng xiū xi.
He took off his coat as soon as he entered the door and sat on the sofa to rest.
：“，。”
Zhǔ rén rè qíng dì shuō: "gè wèi qǐng kuān yī, wū lǐ nuǎn huo."
The host said warmly, 'Everyone, please take off your coats; it's warm inside.'

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

衣yīclothing

宽衣 means to 宽 (loosen) 衣 (clothing), as in taking off a coat.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 寬; 宽 is its simplified writing.

宀萈寬

Meaning part形符xíngfú

宀宀miánhouse

Sound part声符shēngfú

萈

萈huán寬kuān

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 寬 pairs 宀, a house, with 萈, a goat used for sound, to show a spacious house; the simplified 宽 is a later abbreviation.

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

The shape of 衣 comes from an outline of the chest and upper clothing.

Appears in