指明 (zhǐ míng) — to point out; to indicate clearly | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

verb

to point outto indicate clearly

Examples

指明。
Lǎo shī zhǐ míng le zhè cì kǎo shì de zhòng diǎn.
The teacher pointed out the key points of this exam.
指明。
Qǐng zài dì tú shàng zhǐ míng wǒ men de wèi zhì.
Please point out our location on the map.
。
Tā zhǐ míng le wèn tí de gēn yuán.
He pointed out the root cause of the problem.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

“指” means point and “明” means clear, so pointing makes something clear or evident.

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.

扌旨指

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒu

Sound part声符shēngfú

旨

旨zhǐ指zhǐ

Same sound today

The left part 扌 is the hand form 手. The right part 旨 gives the sound.

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

日月明

日日rìsun
月月yuèmoon

明 combines 日 (sun) and 月 (moon), showing the sun just rising while the moon has not yet set, or two bright objects in the sky, to express brightness.

Appears in

Communication & Speech

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