猿 (yuán) — ape
Definition
noun
ape
Measure word · 只
Easily confused
- 员yuánsound-alike(suffix) person; employee; member
- 元yuánsound-alike(classifier) yuan, the basic unit of Chinese currency
- 原yuánsound-alikeoriginal, former
- 圆yuánsound-alike(noun) circle
- 源yuánsound-alikesource; origin (bound morpheme)
- 园yuánsound-alikegarden; park; (in compounds) a place for a specific purpose (e.g., kindergarten, botanical garden)
Examples
- 猿。yuán Shì rén lèi jìn huà guò chéng zhōng de zhòng yào huán jié.Apes are an important link in the process of human evolution.
- 猿，。Dòng wù yuán lǐ de yuán fēi cháng cōng ming, huì mó fǎng rén de dòng zuò.The apes in the zoo are very smart and can imitate human actions.
- 猿。Kē xué jiā tōng guò yán jiū yuán de xíng wéi lái liǎo jiě zǎo qī rén lèi.Scientists study ape behavior to understand early humans.
Origin
Sound + meaning六书liùshū
形声xíngshēngMost characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.
Sound part声符shēngfú
袁
袁yuán猿yuán
Same sound today
The left part 犭, written in full as 犬, shows an animal; the right part 袁 gives the sound.
Appears in
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