文坛 (wén tán) — literary circles; the world of literature

Definition

noun

literary circlesthe world of literature

文坛。
Tā zài wén tán shàng hěn yǒu míng qì.
He is very famous in literary circles.
文坛。
Zhè bù xiǎo shuō zài wén tán yǐn qǐ le hōng dòng.
This novel caused a sensation in literary circles.
文坛。
Jìn nián de wén tán zhōng yǒng xiàn le hěn duō xīn zuò jiā.
In recent years, many new writers have emerged in literary circles.

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.

文wénliterature

坛tánplatform

“文” literature and “坛” platform together mean the world of literature.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

The current form 文 shows a man with head, arms, legs, and chest; the tattoo marks on the chest are no longer drawn.

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.

土亶壇

Meaning part形符xíngfú

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.