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父爱 (fù ài) — paternal love

Definition

noun
paternal love

Examples

  • 父爱，。
    fù ài Shì wú shēng de, què zuì néng dǎ dòng rén.
    Paternal love is silent, yet it moves people the most.
  • 父爱。
    Tā zhōng yú lǐ jiě le fù qīn shēn chén fù ài.
    He finally understood his father's deep paternal love.
  • 父爱。
    Zhè fèn fù ài zhī chēng zhe tā zǒu guò zuì jiān nán de rì zi.
    This paternal love supported him through the hardest days.

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.

父fùfather
爱àilove

父 points to the father and 爱 to love, together meaning a father's love.

Characters in this word

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

The shape 父 shows a hand holding a stone blade, referring to a man working with a stone axe.

Open 父 →

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 愛; 爱 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
旡
旡jì愛ài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

For the traditional form 愛, an older shape paired 心 (heart) with 旡 as its sound part; later a foot-like 夊 was added below. The simplified 爱 is a later variant that replaces the lower part with 友.

Open 爱 →
Appears in
Emotions & FeelingsFamily & Kinship

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