眼窝 (yǎn wō) — eye socket | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

eye socket

Measure word · 个

Examples

，眼窝。
Tā dǎ le yí jià, yǎn wō qīng le yí kuài.
He got into a fight and one of his eye sockets turned black.
眼窝，。
Tā de yǎn wō hěn shēn, xiǎn de yǎn jing tè bié dà.
Her eye sockets are deep, making her eyes look especially big.
眼窝，。
Yī shēng jiǎn chá le tā de yǎn wō, méi yǒu fā xiàn gǔ zhé.
The doctor examined his eye socket and found no fracture.

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.

窝wōsocket

眼 “eye” and 窝 “socket” together name the hollow around the eye.

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.

目艮眼

Meaning part形符xíngfú

目目mùeye

Sound part声符shēngfú

艮

艮gèn眼yǎn

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

眼 combines 目, which is an eye, with 艮, which gives the character's sound.

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 窩; 窝 is its simplified writing.

穴咼窩

Meaning part形符xíngfú

穴穴xuécave

Sound part声符shēngfú

咼

咼wāi窩wō

Same sound today

The traditional form 窩 uses 穴, a cave, for meaning and 咼 for sound; the simplified 窝 is a later shorthand.

Appears in

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