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辞典 (cí diǎn) — dictionary

Definition

辞典 is a formal written synonym of 词典 (the everyday word for 'dictionary'); both refer to word-reference books. 字典 is narrower — dictionaries of Chinese characters — while 词汇 refers to the vocabulary itself, not a book.

noun
dictionary
Measure word · 本, 部
Easily confused

Examples

  • 辞典。
    Wǒ mǎi le yì běn cí diǎn.
    I bought a dictionary.
  • 辞典。
    Zhè bù cí diǎn shōu lù le hěn duō chéng yǔ.
    This dictionary contains many idioms.
  • 辞典。
    Tā jīng cháng yòng cí diǎn chá shēng cí.
    He often uses a dictionary to look up new words.

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.

辞cíwords
典diǎnreference book

辞 points to words, and 典 is the reference book that collects them.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 辞 →

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

  • 冊冊cèbooks
  • 丌丌qítable

典 puts 冊 (books) on a 丌 (table), showing official books resting on a table.

Open 典 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Language

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