彩排 (cǎi pái) — dress rehearsal, final rehearsal (full costume/…

Definition

dress rehearsalfinal rehearsal (full costume/makeup)to have a dress rehearsal

彩排。
Yǎn yuán men zhèng zài wèi míng tiān de shǒu yǎn jìn xíng cǎi pái.
The actors are having a dress rehearsal for tomorrow's premiere.
彩排，。
Jīn wǎn de cǎi pái hěn shùn lì, dà jiā dōu hěn mǎn yì.
Tonight's dress rehearsal went smoothly, and everyone was satisfied.
彩排。
Dǎo yǎn yāo qiú suǒ yǒu yǎn yuán dōu bì xū cān jiā zuì hòu de cǎi pái.
The director requires all actors to attend the final dress rehearsal.

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.

彩cǎicostume/makeup

排páirehearsal

彩 (costume or makeup) gives the kind of 排 (rehearsal), so the word means a rehearsal done in full costume.

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.

采彡彩

Meaning part形符xíngfú

彡彡shān

Sound part声符shēngfú

采

Same sound today

彩 puts 采, which gives the sound, next to 彡, the three-stroke mark that carries the meaning.

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

扌非排

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

非

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

排 uses 扌 (hand) to show arranging something with the hand, and 非 for the sound; this gives the sense of placing things in a line.

Appears in