证婚人 (zhèng hūn rén) — wedding officiant, witness at a wedding ceremony | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

wedding officiantwitness at a wedding ceremony

Measure word · 个

Examples

证婚人。
Tā shì wǒ men hūn lǐ de zhèng hūn rén.
He is the wedding officiant for our wedding.
证婚人。
Wǒ qǐng le wǒ de lǎo shī dāng zhèng hūn rén.
I asked my teacher to be the wedding officiant.
证婚人。
zhèng hūn rén Zài yí shì shàng xuān dú le jié hūn zhèng shū.
The officiant read out the marriage certificate at the ceremony.

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.

证婚certify marriage

证zhèngwitness/certify婚hūnmarriage

动宾Verb + object

“证婚” (witness/certify marriage) and “人” (person) together name the person who certifies a marriage.

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 證; 证 is its simplified writing.

言登證

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

登

登dēng證zhèng

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 證 pairs 言, a words/speech part, with 登 as a sound clue; the simplified 证 is a later shorthand.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

女昏婚

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

昏

昏hūn婚hūn

Same sound today

婚 uses 女 (woman) for the meaning and 昏 for the sound hūn.

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

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