牡丹 (Mǔ dan) — peony | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

peony

Measure word · 朵

牡丹。
Yuàn zi lǐ de Mǔ dan kāi dé tè bié dà.
The peonies in the courtyard bloom particularly large.
牡丹。
Tā yòng Mǔ dan huā bàn pào chá hē.
She uses peony petals to make tea.
牡丹，。
Luò yáng de Mǔ dan hěn yǒu míng, měi nián yǒu hěn duō rén qù cān guān.
Luoyang's peonies are very famous, and many people go to see them every year.

Single-morpheme word

构词法gòucífǎ

联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

The characters 牡 and 丹 carry no independent meaning here; together they name the peony.

Sound-only characters

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

牡 combines 牛 (cattle) with 丄; some explanations say 丄 depicts a penis to represent male, and this part was later written 土.

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

The shape 丹 shows a well or mine with red cinnabar inside.

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