梦话 (mèng huà) — words uttered in one's sleep; sleep-talking; nonsense; unrealistic talk (figurative)

Definition

梦话 has two senses: literally, the words someone says while asleep; figuratively, unrealistic 'pipe dream' talk — promises or plans that could never actually happen.

noun
words uttered in one's sleepsleep-talkingnonsenseunrealistic talk (figurative)

Examples

  • ，。
    Tā shuì zháo le, yì zhí zài shuō mèng huà.
    He fell asleep and kept talking in his sleep.
  • ，梦话。
    Nǐ shuō de zhè xiē gēn běn bú xiàn shí, dōu shì mèng huà.
    What you said is completely unrealistic; it's all nonsense.
  • ，。
    Bié tīng tā de, tā zǒng shì zài shuō mèng huà.
    Don't listen to him; he's always talking nonsense.

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.

梦mèngdream
话huàspeech

梦 dream and 话 speech combine to mean words spoken in sleep or, figuratively, nonsense.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 夢; 梦 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
夕夕xī
Sound part声符shēngfú
瞢
瞢méng夢mèng
Same sound today

The traditional form 夢 pairs 夕 (night) with 瞢, which gives the sound; its older form showed a person lying with an eye emphasized.

Open 梦 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 話; 话 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánword
Sound part声符shēngfú
𠯑
𠯑𠯑話huà
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 話, 言 relates to words and 𠯑 gives the sound; the simplified 话 is a shorthand, so its right side is not that sound part.

Open 话 →

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