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节日 (jié rì) — holiday, festival

Definition

节日 is a named festival or holiday with cultural meaning (Mid-Autumn Festival, Christmas). 假日 and 假期 are more generic days off; 节 by itself can also mean 'festival' but is shorter and also means 'section' / 'solar term'.

noun
holidayfestival
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 节日。
    Zhōng qiū jié shì yí gè zhòng yào de jié rì.
    The Mid-Autumn Festival is an important holiday.
  • 节日？
    Nǐ men guó jiā yǒu shén me jié rì?
    What holidays does your country have?
  • 节日。
    Zhè ge jié rì dà jiā dōu hěn kāi xīn.
    Everyone is very happy during this festival.

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.

节jiéfestival
日rìday

'节' is a festival and '日' is a day, so a festival day is a holiday.

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 節; 节 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
⺮Written in full as竹zhúbamboo
Sound part声符shēngfú
即
即jí節jié
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 節 pairs ⺮ (bamboo) with 即, which gives the sound; the bamboo part points to a node of bamboo. The simplified 节 is a later abbreviation.

Open 节 →

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

日 originally drew the sun. A mark was added inside to tell it apart from similar square shapes.

Open 日 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 3HSK 2.0 Level 3Festivals & Holidays5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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