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葬礼 (zàng lǐ) — funeral; burial

Definition

葬礼 is a formal noun for a 'funeral' — the ceremony and rites themselves, not the burial act. Note 白 appears only incidentally in phrases like 办白事 and is not a synonym.

noun
funeralburial
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 葬礼。
    Míng tiān wǒ yào qù cān jiā péng you de zàng lǐ.
    Tomorrow I'm going to attend a friend's funeral.
  • 葬礼。
    Tā qù nián cān jiā le yé ye de zàng lǐ.
    He attended his grandfather's funeral last year.
  • 葬礼。
    Dà jiā dōu chuān zhuó hēi sè yī fu qù cān jiā zàng lǐ.
    Everyone wore black clothes to attend the funeral.

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.

葬zàngburial
礼lǐceremony

葬 refers to burial, and 礼 to ceremony, giving the sense of a burial ceremony.

Characters in this word

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

  • 茻茻mǎnggrass
  • 死死sǐdead person

In 葬, 死, a dead person, is shown in 茻, grass, to picture burying the dead in grass.

Open 葬 →

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 禮; 礼 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
礻Written in full as示shìaltar
Sound part声符shēngfú
豊
豊lǐ禮lǐ
Same sound today

The traditional form 禮 pairs 礻 (altar) with 豊, a sound part, for performing rites at the altar; the simplified 礼 is a later shorthand.

Open 礼 →
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