月牙 (yuè yá) — crescent moon | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

crescent moon

Measure word · 个

Examples

月牙。
Yè kōng zhōng guà zhe yì wān yuè yá.
A crescent moon hangs in the night sky.
月牙。
Tā de méi mao xiàng yuè yá yí yàng wān wān de.
Her eyebrows are curved like a crescent moon.
月牙。
Xiǎo shí hou wǒ zǒng ài huà yí gè yuè yá.
When I was little, I always loved drawing a crescent moon.

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.

月 and 牙 give the fang-like shape of the moon.

Characters in this word

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

月 was drawn as a crescent moon, with the curved outline showing the moon’s shape.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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