贴金 (tiē jīn) — to gild, to cover with gold leaf/foil; to brag about oneself, to blow one's own trumpet

Definition

贴金 literally means 'to gild' (apply gold leaf), but it is more often used figuratively as 'to brag about oneself' — usually in the fixed phrase 往自己脸上贴金 ('gild one's own face').

verb
to gildto cover with gold leaf/foilto brag about oneselfto blow one's own trumpet

Examples

  • 贴金。
    Gōng rén men zhèng zài wèi zhè zuò dà mén tiē jīn.
    The workers are gilding this gate.
  • 。
    Tā gěi zì jǐ de chéng jì tiē le bù shǎo jīn.
    He gilded his own achievements quite a bit.
  • 贴金。
    Tā zǒng shì xǐ huan wǎng zì jǐ liǎn shàng tiē jīn.
    He always likes to brag about himself.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

贴tiēapply
金jīngold

贴 (apply) and 金 (gold) together mean covering something with gold.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
貝貝bèishell
Sound part声符shēngfú
占
占zhàn貼tiē
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.

Open 贴 →

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

金 was drawn with marks for two pieces of metal, along with a part that gave its sound; it first meant copper, then metals and gold.

Open 金 →

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