春 (chūn) — spring (the season; used in compounds for spring-related concepts); (literary) love, lust, vitality (in poetic or classical compounds); a surname
Definition
As a bound form, 春 is almost never used alone — it appears in compounds like 春天 (spring, the season) and 春节 (Spring Festival / Chinese New Year). In literary or poetic compounds it also carries the sense of 'vitality, love, lust.'
bound form
spring (the season; used in compounds for spring-related concepts)(literary) lovelustvitality (in poetic or classical compounds)a surname
Examples
- ，。Wǒ xǐ huan chūn tiān, yīn wèi huā dū kāi le.I like spring because the flowers are all blooming.
- ，春。Guò chūn jié de shí hou, měi jiā dōu tiē chūn lián.During the Spring Festival, every household pastes up spring couplets.
- ，。Tā suī rán bú zài nián qīng, dàn yī rán chōng mǎn chūn tiān de huó lì.Although she is no longer young, she is still full of the vitality of spring.
Origin
Sound + meaning六书liùshū
形声xíngshēngMost characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.
春 combines 艸 (grass) and 日 (sun) with 屯, which supplies the sound and is described as a swollen sprout.
Appears in
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