影坛 (yǐng tán) — the film world, movie circles, the film industry (as a community or field)

Definition

影坛 means 'the film world' as a social/professional circle — the community of directors, actors, and filmmakers, not the industry itself. Pairs with 上 in common collocations like 影坛上.

noun
the film worldmovie circlesthe film industry (as a community or field)

Examples

  • 影坛。
    Zhè wèi dǎo yǎn zài yǐng tán shàng hěn yǒu míng.
    This director is very famous in the film world.
  • ，影坛。
    Tā píng jiè zhè bù zuò pǐn yì jǔ chéng míng, chéng wéi yǐng tán xīn xīng.
    With this work, she shot to fame and became a rising star in cinema.
  • 影坛。
    yǐng tán Shàng měi nián dōu yǒu xǔ duō xīn zuò pǐn wèn shì.
    Every year many new works appear in the film industry.

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.

影yǐngfilm
坛táncircle

影 (film) and 坛 (a field or circle) mean the world of films.

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
彡彡shān
Sound part声符shēngfú
景
景jǐng影yǐng
Same sound today

影 pairs 景, which gives the sound and also carries the idea of image, with 彡, the part that points to shadow.

Open 影 →

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 壇; 坛 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
土土tǔ
Sound part声符shēngfú
亶
亶dǎn壇tán
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 壇 pairs 土 (earth) with 亶 as a sound component; the simplified 坛 is a later shorthand.

Open 坛 →

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