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童话 (tóng huà) — fairy tale; children's story

Definition

童话 (tónghuà) is a 'fairy tale / children's story' — fictional tales aimed at children with magic and moral lessons. Contrast with 神话, which is a 'myth' rooted in a culture's beliefs about gods and origins.

noun
fairy talechildren's story
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 童话。
    Wǒ hěn xǐ huan dú tóng huà gù shi.
    I really enjoy reading fairy tales.
  • 童话。
    Zhè ge tóng huà jiǎng de shì shàn liáng yǔ yǒng gǎn.
    This fairy tale is about kindness and bravery.
  • 童话。
    Xiǎo shí hou mā ma měi wǎn dōu gěi wǒ jiǎng tóng huà.
    When I was little, my mom told me fairy tales every night.

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.

童tóngchild
话huàstory

Child and story combine to mean a story for children.

Characters in this word

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

  • 䇂䇂䇂chisel
  • 見見jiànkneeling person with a huge eye

The form 童 comes from a pairing of 䇂 (a chisel) with 見 (a kneeling person with a huge eye), depicting a person having an eye gouged out.

Open 童 →

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 話; 话 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánword
Sound part声符shēngfú
𠯑
𠯑𠯑話huà
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 話, 言 relates to words and 𠯑 gives the sound; the simplified 话 is a shorthand, so its right side is not that sound part.

Open 话 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6HSK 2.0 Level 6Literature & Poetry

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