礼拜三 (lǐ bài sān) — Wednesday | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

礼拜三 is the colloquial spoken way to say 'Wednesday' (礼拜 = week). 星期三 is the neutral/standard form; 礼拜 is more casual, and 周三 is a written/abbreviated shorthand.

noun

Wednesday

Examples

礼拜三。
Zhè ge lǐ bài sān xià wǔ wǒ men yào kāi huì.
We have a meeting this Wednesday afternoon.
礼拜三？。
Nǐ lǐ bài sān yǒu kòng ma? wǒ men yì qǐ chī fàn ba.
Are you free on Wednesday? Let's eat together.
礼拜三。
Shàng zhōu lǐ bài sān wǒ qù le tú shū guǎn.
Last Wednesday I went to the library.

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.

礼拜week

礼lǐrite拜bàibow

联合Coordinate

礼拜 gives the week, and 三 gives the third day, naming Wednesday.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 禮; 礼 is its simplified writing.

礻豊禮

Meaning part形符xíngfú

礻Written in full as示shìaltar

Sound part声符shēngfú

豊

豊lǐ禮lǐ

Same sound today

The traditional form 禮 pairs 礻 (altar) with 豊, a sound part, for performing rites at the altar; the simplified 礼 is a later shorthand.

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

扌手shǒuhand
𠦪𠦪𠦪herbs

拜 combines 扌 (hand, written fully as 手) with 𠦪 (herbs), showing a hand holding herbs as a gift.

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

三 is drawn as three parallel strokes, like 一 with one stroke and 二 with two.

Appears in

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