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年画 (nián huà) — Chinese New Year picture (traditional folk art hung on walls or doors during Spring Festival)

Definition

Traditional folk-art print hung on walls or doors during Spring Festival (e.g. door gods, auspicious figures). It is a physical picture/poster, not the holiday itself.

noun
Chinese New Year picture (traditional folk art hung on walls or doors during Spring Festival)
Measure word · 幅

Examples

  • ，年画。
    Guò nián de shí hou, jiā jiā dōu huì tiē nián huà.
    During the New Year, every household puts up a New Year picture.
  • 年画。
    Zhè xiē nián huà shàng de tú àn fēi cháng piào liang.
    The patterns on these New Year pictures are very beautiful.
  • 年画。
    Wǒ zài shāng diàn mǎi le jǐ zhāng nián huà.
    I bought a few New Year pictures at the shop.

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.

年niányear
画huàpicture

年 as year and 画 as picture name a picture made for the New Year.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
禾禾héwheat; grain
Sound part声符shēngfú
人
人rén年nián
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

年 pairs 禾 (grain) with 人, which gives the sound. Its original meaning was harvest, and it later came to mean a year.

Open 年 →

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 畫; 画 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
聿聿yùbrush
Sound part声符shēngfú
規
規guī畫huà
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 畫 pairs 聿, a brush, with 規 for its sound. The simplified 画 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the old parts.

Open 画 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Art & Fine ArtsChinese Culture & Customs

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