梅林 (Méi lín) — plum forest, grove of plum trees

Definition

noun
plum forestgrove of plum trees
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 梅林
    Chūn tiān de shí hou, Méi lín lǐ de méi huā kāi le.
    In spring, the plum blossoms in the plum forest bloom.
  • 梅林
    Tā men chuān guò yí dà piàn Méi lín, zhōng yú dào le shān dǐng.
    They walked through a large plum grove and finally reached the mountaintop.
  • 梅林
    Nà piàn Méi lín shì cūn lǐ rén zuì ài sàn bù de dì fāng.
    That plum grove is the favorite walking place for the villagers.

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.

línforest

梅 ('plum') and 林 ('forest') combine to mean a plum forest.

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
tree
Sound part声符shēngfú
měiméi
Same sound today

梅 is built from 木 (tree) and 每, which gives the sound; it is used for the plum tree.

Open 梅 →

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

林 is made of two 木 (tree) placed side by side, showing many trees together, hence a forest.

Open 林 →
Appears in

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