歌声 (gē shēng) — singing voice; (figurative) poetic voice, voice… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

歌声 is the sound of singing itself (the voice carrying a song), not a song as a piece of music — for that, use 歌.

noun

singing voice(figurative) poetic voicevoice of a poet

Examples

歌声。
Tā de gē shēng hěn yōu měi.
Her singing voice is very graceful.
歌声。
Cóng yuǎn chù chuán lái le gē shēng.
The sound of singing came from afar.
歌声。
Wǒ xǐ huan tīng hái zi men de gē shēng.
I like listening to the children's singing voices.

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.

歌gēsinging

“歌” specifies singing and “声” gives voice, together meaning a singing voice.

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.

哥欠歌

Meaning part形符xíngfú

欠欠qiànblow

Sound part声符shēngfú

哥

哥gē歌gē

Same sound today

The shape 歌 uses 哥 for the sound and 欠, meaning blow. It came from a form of 哥 used for singing.

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 聲; 声 is its simplified writing.

殸耳聲

Meaning part形符xíngfú

耳耳ěrear

Sound part声符shēngfú

殸

殸qìng聲shēng

Same sound today

The traditional form 聲 pairs 耳 (ear) with 殸 as a sound part; the simplified 声 is a shorthand and does not show those original parts.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 4 Music

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