贴画 (tiē huà) — small decorative picture or sticker, such as a…

Definition

A small decorative picture or sticker, often collected from everyday objects (like old matchboxes) and pasted into albums or onto school supplies.

noun

small decorative picture or sticker, such as a pin-up or matchbox picture

Measure word · 张

贴画。
Tā shōu jí le hěn duō diàn yǐng míng xīng de tiē huà.
He collected many movie star pin-up pictures.
贴画。
Xiǎo shí hou wǒ xǐ huan bǎ tiē huà tiē zài wén jù hé shàng.
When I was young, I liked to paste stickers on my pencil case.
贴画。
Zhè xiē tiē huà shì yé ye cóng jiù huǒ chái hé shàng qǔ xià lái de.
These matchbox pictures were taken from old matchboxes by grandpa.

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.

A 贴 picture is one meant to be stuck down, so 贴 specifies how the 画 is used.

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 貼; 贴 is its simplified writing.

貝占貼

Meaning part形符xíngfú

貝貝bèishell

Sound part声符shēngfú

占

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 貼 pairs 貝, a shell, with 占 as a sound part; the simplified 贴 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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 畫; 画 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

聿聿yùbrush

Sound part声符shēngfú

規

規guī畫huà

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 畫 pairs 聿, a brush, with 規 for its sound. The simplified 画 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the old parts.