纹 (wén) — line, trace, mark, pattern, grain (of wood etc)
Definition
纹 (wén) is a bound morpheme meaning 'line/trace/mark/grain' — it almost never stands alone and combines with suffixes like 理, 路, or 花 to form nouns (e.g. 纹理, 纹路, 花纹).
bound form
linetracemarkpatterngrain (of wood etc)
Examples
- 。Zhè kuài mù tou de wén lǐ hěn piào liang.The grain of this piece of wood is very beautiful.
- 。Yī fu shàng de huā wén fēi cháng jīng zhì.The pattern on the clothes is very exquisite.
- 。Tā shǒu shàng de wén lù hěn shēn.The lines on his hand are very deep.
Origin
Sound + meaning六书liùshū
形声xíngshēngMost 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 紋; 纹 is its simplified writing.
Meaning part形符xíngfú
糸糸mìthread
The traditional form 紋 pairs 糸 (thread) with 文 as the sound part, giving the sense of a line of thread; this note is about 紋, not 纹.
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