开司米 (kāi sī mǐ) — cashmere

Definition

noun
cashmere

Examples

  • 开司米。
    Zhè jiàn kāi sī mǐ máo yī hěn nuǎn huo.
    This cashmere sweater is very warm.
  • 开司米。
    Tā xǐ huan dài kāi sī mǐ wéi jīn.
    She likes to wear a cashmere scarf.
  • 开司米。
    Zhè tiáo kāi sī mǐ kù zi jià gé bù dī.
    This pair of cashmere pants is not cheap.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 開; 开 is its simplified writing.

  • 門門méndoor
  • 一一yīlatch and/or wooden pole that shuts a door
  • 廾廾gǒnga pair of hands

The traditional form 開 shows 廾, a pair of hands, and 一, a latch or pole, inside 門, a door: hands opening a latched door. The simplified 开 is a shorthand form, so its parts are not the original pieces.

Open 开 →

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

The evidence is inconclusive: one suggestion sees 司 as a mouth giving orders beside a mark of authority, another reads that mark as a hand, and another sees it as a reversed older form.

Open 司 →

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

米 is a picture of rice kernels without husk, with the horizontal stroke as a bamboo sieve. It is unrelated to similar-looking grain characters.

Open 米 →

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