疑团 (yí tuán) — a maze of doubts; a tangle of suspicions; a puzzling situation; a mystery

Definition

Literary word for a knot of unsolved doubts or suspicions — 心中的疑团 was finally unraveled. More emphatic and written than 怀疑, which is just the act of doubting.

noun
a maze of doubtsa tangle of suspicionsa puzzling situationa mystery

Examples

  • 疑团，。
    Zhè jiàn shì chōng mǎn yí tuán, ràng rén nán yǐ xiāng xìn.
    This matter is full of doubts, making it hard to believe.
  • 疑团。
    Tā xīn zhōng de yí tuán zhōng yú bèi jiě kāi le.
    The maze of doubts in his heart was finally resolved.
  • 疑团。
    Jǐng fāng shì tú jiě kāi zhè ge yí tuán.
    The police tried to unravel this mystery.

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.

疑yídoubt
团tuánlump

疑 means doubt and 团 means lump; together they picture a tangled mass of suspicions.

Characters in this word

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

  • 大大dàstanding human figure
  • 夂夂zhǐtilted head with open mouth
  • 丨丨gǔncane

疑 depicts a standing figure 大 with a tilted, open-mouthed head 夂 and a cane 丨, a confused person looking around for direction.

Open 疑 →

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 團; 团 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
囗囗wéi
Sound part声符shēngfú
專
專zhuān團tuán
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The form 團 combines 囗 as a meaning part with 專 as a sound part; the story is about 團, not about 团.

Open 团 →

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