文学奖 (wén xué jiǎng) — literary prize; literary award

Definition

noun
literary prizeliterary award
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 文学奖。
    Tā huò dé le jīn nián de nuò bèi ěr wén xué jiǎng.
    He won this year's Nobel Prize in Literature.
  • 文学奖。
    Zhè běn xiǎo shuō qù nián dé le quán guó wén xué jiǎng.
    This novel won a national literary prize last year.
  • 文学奖。
    Hěn duō zuò jiā yì shēng dōu zài zhuī qiú wén xué jiǎng.
    Many writers spend their whole lives pursuing a literary prize.

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.

文学literature
文wénwriting学xuéstudy
偏正Modifier + head
奖jiǎngprize

文学 names literature, and 奖 names a prize given for it.

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.

Open 文 →

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 學; 学 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 學 may have used 爻 and 六 for sound, with hands and a child added later; the simplified 学 is a shorthand.

Open 学 →

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 獎; 奖 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
犬犬quǎndog
Sound part声符shēngfú
將
將jiāng獎jiǎng
Same sound today

The traditional form 獎 pairs 將 as a sound part with 犬, a dog; the simplified 奖 is a later shorthand. The evidence says the dog part's meaning is unclear, perhaps referring to guiding a dog by voice.

Open 奖 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.