日食 (rì shí) — solar eclipse | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

'Solar eclipse' — the moon blocking the sun. 对比月食 (lunar eclipse), where Earth blocks sunlight from the moon.

noun

solar eclipse

Measure word · 次

日食。
Wǒ zuó tiān kàn dào le rì shí.
I saw a solar eclipse yesterday.
日食。
Zhè cì rì shí chí xù le bú dào sì fēn zhōng.
This solar eclipse lasted less than four minutes.
日食。
Kē xué jiā men yì zhí zài yán jiū rì shí duì dì qiú huán jìng de yǐng xiǎng.
Scientists have been studying the impact of solar eclipses on Earth's environment.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

食shíeaten/devoured

"日" (sun) is "食" (eaten/devoured), giving solar eclipse.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

日 originally drew the sun. A mark was added inside to tell it apart from similar square shapes.

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

The form behind 食 shows 亼, a mouth, together with 皀, a bowl of rice on a stand. In modern 食, the bowl part has changed shape.

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