星云 (xīng yún) — nebula (astronomy) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

nebula (astronomy)

星云。
Kē xué jiā tōng guò wàng yuǎn jìng guān chá xīng yún.
Scientists observe nebulae through telescopes.
星云。
Zhè zhāng zhào piàn pāi dào le yí gè měi lì de xīng yún.
This photo captured a beautiful nebula.
星云。
xīng yún Shì yóu qì tǐ hé chén āi zǔ chéng de.
A nebula is composed of gas and dust.

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.

星 and 云 name a nebula, a cloud-like mass of gas and dust in space, often linked with stars.

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.

The top of 星 is a later simplified form of 晶, twinkling stars; the bottom 生 shows the sound.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 雲; 云 is its simplified writing.

雨云雲

The traditional form 雲 is 雨 (rain) plus 云; 云 was the original writing for 'cloud', and 雨 was added to separate it from the borrowed sense 'to say'.

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