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流行歌曲 (liú xíng gē qǔ) — popular songs

Definition

noun
popular songs
Measure word · 首

Examples

  • 流行歌曲？
    Nǐ tīng guò nà shǒu liú xíng gē qǔ ma?
    Have you heard that popular song?
  • 流行歌曲。
    Xiàn zài de liú xíng gē qǔ dōu hěn yǒu jié zòu gǎn.
    Popular songs nowadays all have a great rhythm.
  • 流行歌曲。
    Tā zuì xǐ huan chàng liú xíng gē qǔ.
    He likes singing popular songs the most.

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.

流行popular
流liúflow行xíngmove
联合Coordinate
歌曲songs
歌gēsong曲qǔtune
联合Coordinate

流 and 行 together mean spreading, and 歌 and 曲 both mean song, so the phrase denotes songs that are popular.

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
水水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
㐬
㐬㐬流liú
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

流 has 水, water, and 㐬, which gives the sound. The water part matches meanings such as flow.

Open 流 →

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

  • 彳彳chì
  • 亍亍chù

The shape of 行 originally showed a street intersection, even on both sides. Later it became uneven, with 彳 on the left and 亍 on the right.

Open 行 →

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
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.

Open 歌 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

曲 is drawn as a bent object, matching the meaning 'bend'.

Open 曲 →
Appears in
Music

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