小夜曲 (xiǎo yè qǔ) — serenade | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A serenade: a calm, romantic piece of classical music traditionally played at night, often for a lover.

noun

serenade

Measure word · 首

小夜曲。
Tā zhàn zài tā chuāng xià tán zòu le yì shǒu xiǎo yè qǔ.
He stood under her window and played a serenade.
小夜曲，。
Zhè shǒu xiǎo yè qǔ xuán lǜ yōu měi, ràng wǒ xiǎng qǐ le yuè guāng.
This serenade's melody is beautiful, reminding me of moonlight.
小夜曲。
Mò zhā tè de xiǎo yè qǔ shì gǔ diǎn yīn yuè zhōng de jīng diǎn zhī zuò.
Mozart's serenade is a classic in classical music.

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.

夜曲night song

偏正Modifier + head

小 gives the sense of a gentle, intimate piece, while 夜 and 曲 picture a song of the night.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 小 comes from three small dots, later elongated into its strokes; the apparent parts 八 and 丨 are a later way of seeing it.

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú

夕夕xīmoon

Sound part声符shēngfú

亦

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

The form 夜 pairs 亦 as a sound part with 夕 as a moon part, for night. In the modern shape, the 亦 part is broken up and one stroke merges into 夕.

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

曲 is drawn as a bent object, matching the meaning 'bend'.

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