泳衣 (yǒng yī) — swimsuit, bathing suit | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

swimsuitbathing suit

Measure word · 件

Examples

泳衣。
Zhè jiàn yǒng yī de yán sè hěn piào liang.
The color of this swimsuit is very pretty.
，泳衣。
Wǒ qù hǎi biān wán, dài le liǎng jiàn yǒng yī.
I brought two swimsuits for my trip to the beach.
泳衣。
Tā chuān le yì shēn xīn yǒng yī qù yóu yǒng.
She wore a new swimsuit to go swimming.

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.

衣yīclothing

'泳' means swim and '衣' means clothing, so it denotes clothing for swimming.

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.

氵永泳

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐ

Sound part声符shēngfú

永

永yǒng泳yǒng

Same sound today

泳 pairs 氵 (water) with 永, which gives the sound. The water part fits the meaning of swimming.

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

The shape of 衣 comes from an outline of the chest and upper clothing.

Appears in

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