画册 (huà cè) — picture album, art album

Definition

A bound book of pictures or artwork (绘画作品), not photographs. 相册 is the same kind of book but for personal photos.

noun

picture albumart album

Measure word · 本

画册。
Wǒ sòng gěi tā yì běn jīng měi de huà cè.
I gave him a beautiful art album.
画册。
Zhè běn huà cè shōu lù le qí bái shí de xǔ duō zuò pǐn.
This art album collects many works by Qi Baishi.
画册。
Xiǎo péng yǒu men zài tú shū guǎn kàn huà cè.
The children are looking at a picture album in the library.

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.

册cèbooklet

画 (picture) and 册 (booklet) combine into an album of pictures.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 畫; 画 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

聿聿yùbrush

Sound part声符shēngfú

規

規guī畫huà

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 畫 pairs 聿, a brush, with 規 for its sound. The simplified 画 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the old parts.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 冊; 册 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 冊 shows bamboo slips strung together, the pages of a book; the simplified 册 is a later shorthand.

Appears in