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有名 (yǒu míng) — famous; well-known

Definition

Everyday 'famous / well-known' (people, places, things). More colloquial than the written 著名 and 知名; for people and places, 出名 is a common near-synonym.

adjective
famouswell-known

Examples

  • 有名。
    Zhè ge chéng shì hěn yǒu míng.
    This city is very famous.
  • 有名。
    Tā de huà zài quán shì jiè dōu hěn yǒu míng.
    His paintings are famous all over the world.
  • 有名。
    Nà ge yǒu míng de yǎn yuán yǎn le hěn duō diàn yǐng.
    That famous actor has acted in many movies.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

有yǒuhave
名míngfame

有 (have) and 名 (fame) combine: having fame, so well-known.

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
肉肉ròumeat
Sound part声符shēngfú
又
又yòu有yǒu
Same sound today

The form 有 combines 又, used for its sound, with a shape from 肉, 'meat'; the hand-holding-meat story is a folk explanation, not shown in the oldest shape.

Open 有 →

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

名 puts 夕 (crescent moon) above 口 (mouth), showing a name spoken in the dark.

Open 名 →
Appears in
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