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石榴裙 (shí liu qún) — pomegranate-red skirt; feminine charms (idiomatic, in 拜倒在石榴裙下)

Definition

A 'pomegranate-red skirt' — a literary/poetic image of a beautiful woman. Today it mostly appears idiomatically in 拜倒在石榴裙下 ('fall at her skirt'), meaning to be captivated by a woman's charms.

noun
pomegranate-red skirtfeminine charms (idiomatic, in 拜倒在石榴裙下)
Measure word · 条

Examples

  • 石榴裙，。
    Tā chuān le yì tiáo hóng sè de shí liu qún, fēi cháng piào liang.
    She wore a red pomegranate skirt, very beautiful.
  • 石榴裙。
    Hěn duō nán rén dōu bài dǎo zài tā de shí liu qún xià.
    Many men fall at the feet of her pomegranate skirt (are captivated by her charms).
  • 石榴裙。
    Gǔ dài shī rén cháng yòng shí liu qún lái bǐ yù měi nǚ.
    Ancient poets often used 'pomegranate skirt' to metaphorically refer to beautiful women.

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.

石榴pomegranate
石shí榴liú
裙qúnskirt

石榴 gives the pomegranate-red image, and 裙 is a skirt, so the word names a red skirt.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 石 shows a stone under a cliff-like overhang, or a cave set into a cliff side.

Open 石 →

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
木木mù
Sound part声符shēngfú
留
留liú榴liú
Same sound today

The left side 木 marks a tree, while the right side 留 gives the character its sound.

Open 榴 →

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
衤Written in full as衣yīclothing
Sound part声符shēngfú
君
君jūn裙qún
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

裙 pairs 衤, a narrow form of 衣 meaning clothing, with 君, which gives the sound.

Open 裙 →
Appears in
Clothing

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