自乐 (zì lè) — to enjoy oneself, to amuse oneself

Definition

verb

to enjoy oneselfto amuse oneself

自乐。
Tā xǐ huan yí gè rén zài jiā zì lè.
He likes to amuse himself at home alone.
自乐，，。
Zhōu mò tā cháng cháng zì lè, kàn kàn shū, tīng tīng yīn yuè.
On weekends he often amuses himself, reading books and listening to music.
自乐。
Tā zì lè de fāng shì hěn tè bié.
His way of amusing himself is very special.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

自 means self, and 乐 means enjoy; the word says the self takes pleasure.

Characters in this word

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

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

自 originally drew a nose. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write 自, so the picture and the meaning are unrelated.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 樂; 乐 is its simplified writing.

In the traditional form 樂, 絲 (string) with 木 (wood) shows strings on a piece of wood, a musical instrument; the simplified 乐 is a later shorthand.

Appears in