挽歌 (wǎn gē) — dirge; elegy | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

dirgeelegy

Examples

挽歌。
Tā xiě le yì shǒu wǎn gē lái jì niàn shì qù de péng you.
He wrote a dirge to commemorate his deceased friend.
挽歌。
Zhè shǒu wǎn gē tīng qǐ lái fēi cháng bēi shāng.
This elegy sounds very sad.
，挽歌。
Zài gǔ dài, rén men huì zài zàng lǐ shàng chàng wǎn gē.
In ancient times, people would sing dirges at funerals.

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.

挽wǎnmourning

挽 (mourning) and 歌 (song) combine into a funeral song.

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.

扌免挽

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒu

Sound part声符shēngfú

免

免miǎn挽wǎn

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

In 挽, the left part 扌 is a hand symbol, showing an action done with the hand. The right part 免 supplies the sound.

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

哥欠歌

Meaning part形符xíngfú

欠欠qiànblow

Sound part声符shēngfú

哥

哥gē歌gē

Same sound today

The shape 歌 uses 哥 for the sound and 欠, meaning blow. It came from a form of 哥 used for singing.

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