山巅 (shān diān) — mountain summit; mountain peak

Definition

noun
mountain summitmountain peak
Measure word · 座
Easily confused

Examples

  • 山巅，。
    Wǒ men pá dào le shān diān, kàn dào le zuì měi de rì chū.
    We climbed to the summit and saw the most beautiful sunrise.
  • 山巅，。
    Cóng shān diān fǔ kàn, zhěng gè chéng shì jìn shōu yǎn dǐ.
    Looking down from the mountain peak, the whole city spreads out before your eyes.
  • 山巅，。
    shān diān Shàng de fēng hěn dà, jì de duō chuān diǎn yī fu.
    The wind at the mountain summit is strong; remember to wear more clothes.

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.

山shānmountain
巅diānsummit

山 names the mountain and 巅 names its top, so it means the mountain summit.

Characters in this word

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

山 shows three mountain peaks side by side.

Open 山 →

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 巔; 巅 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
山山shān
Sound part声符shēngfú
顛
顛diān巔diān
Same sound today

The traditional form 巔 pairs 山 (mountain) with 顛 as the sound part; the simplified 巅 is a later shorthand.

Open 巅 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.