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睡美人 (Shuì měi rén) — Sleeping Beauty (fairy tale character or story)

Definition

noun
Sleeping Beauty (fairy tale character or story)

Examples

  • 《睡美人》。
    Wǒ xiǎo shí hou tīng guò 《Shuì měi rén》 de gù shi.
    I heard the story of Sleeping Beauty when I was little.
  • 《睡美人》。
    《Shuì měi rén》 Shì dí shì ní jīng diǎn de dòng huà diàn yǐng zhī yī.
    Sleeping Beauty is one of Disney's classic animated films.
  • 睡美人。
    Tā dǎ bàn chéng le Shuì měi rén de yàng zi qù cān jiā pài duì.
    She dressed up as Sleeping Beauty to go to the party.

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.

睡shuìsleep
美人beautiful person
美měibeautiful人rénperson
偏正Modifier + head

睡 refers to sleeping, while 美人 means a beautiful person; together they name a beautiful person who is asleep.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
目目mùeye
Sound part声符shēngfú
垂
垂chuí睡shuì
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

睡 combines 目, an eye, with 垂, which gives its sound.

Open 睡 →

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

美 shows 大, a person, wearing 羊, a headdress of feathers or ram's horn.

Open 美 →

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →
Appears in
Mythology & Folklore

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