盛大 (shèng dà) — grand, magnificent, majestic | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

盛大 emphasizes the impressive scale of an event or ceremony (开业典礼, 阅兵). Unlike 宏伟/雄伟 (used for buildings and scenery), 盛大 is for occasions.

adjective

grandmagnificentmajestic

Examples

盛大。
Gōng sī jǔ xíng le shèng dà de kāi yè diǎn lǐ.
The company held a grand opening ceremony.
盛大，。
Zhè chǎng yǎn chū zhèn róng shèng dà, xī yǐn le wú shù guān zhòng.
The cast for this show was magnificent, attracting countless spectators.
盛大。
Guó qìng jié de yuè bīng yí shì fēi cháng shèng dà.
The National Day military parade was extremely grand.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

盛 “grand” and 大 “large” reinforce each other to mean magnificent.

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.

成皿盛

Meaning part形符xíngfú

皿皿mǐn

Sound part声符shēngfú

成

成chéng盛shèng

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

盛 combines 成 as a sound part with 皿 as a meaning part; the 皿 side points to a vessel, which fits meanings such as hold and fill.

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Appears in

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