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美术 (měi shù) — fine arts; art

Definition

美术 refers specifically to the visual fine arts (painting, sculpture, design) as a school subject or practice. 艺术 is the broader umbrella covering all art forms including music, dance, and theater.

noun
fine artsart
Measure word · 种

Examples

  • 美术。
    Wǒ hěn xǐ huan xué xí měi shù.
    I really like studying fine arts.
  • 美术，？
    Míng tiān yǒu yí gè měi shù zhǎn lǎn, nǐ xiǎng qù ma?
    There's an art exhibition tomorrow. Do you want to go?
  • 美术。
    Zhè fú měi shù zuò pǐn huò dé le dì yī míng.
    This piece of artwork won first place.

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.

美měibeautiful
术shùart

美 describes 术, art, as beautiful.

Characters in this word

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 →

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 術; 术 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
行行xíngstreet, path
Sound part声符shēngfú
朮
朮zhú術shù
Same sound today

The traditional form 術 has 行 (street, path) beside 朮, which gives the sound; the simplified 术 is a later shorthand.

Open 术 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5HSK 2.0 Level 5Art & Fine Arts

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