晨星 (chén xīng) — morning stars (stars visible in the pre-dawn sky); Mercury (the planet, when it appears as the morning star); (in the idiom 寥若晨星) a rare or sparse occurrence

Definition

Literally 'morning star(s)' — the stars seen just before dawn, and also the Chinese name for the planet Mercury when it rises in the east before the sun.

noun
morning stars (stars visible in the pre-dawn sky)Mercury (the planet, when it appears as the morning star)(in the idiom 寥若晨星) a rare or sparse occurrence
Measure word · 颗

Examples

  • ，晨星。
    Lí míng shí fēn, tiān biān yǐn yuē yǒu jǐ kē chén xīng.
    At dawn, a few morning stars were faintly visible on the horizon.
  • 晨星。
    chén xīng Shì tài yáng xì zhōng lí tài yáng zuì jìn de xíng xīng.
    Mercury is the closest planet to the sun in the solar system.
  • 寥晨星。
    Rú jīn zhè zhǒng gǔ shū yǐ jīng liáo ruò chén xīng le.
    Such ancient books are now as rare as morning stars.

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.

晨chénmorning
星xīngstar

The sense comes from 晨 (morning) and 星 (star), together meaning stars visible in the morning sky.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
日日rìsun
Sound part声符shēngfú
辰
辰chén晨chén
Same sound today

The shape 晨 adds 日 (sun) to 辰, which gives the sound; it was originally written as 辰 alone.

Open 晨 →

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.

Open 星 →

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