重演 (chóng yǎn) — to reenact; to repeat (an event or performance)

Definition

'To reenact or repeat (an event, performance, or historical pattern).' Unlike repeating a 重复 action, 重演 emphasizes staging something again (a play) or a pattern recurring (history, mistakes).

verb
to reenactto repeat (an event or performance)

Examples

  • 重演。
    Lì shǐ bú huì chóng yǎn.
    History will not repeat itself.
  • 重演。
    Tā men jué dìng chóng yǎn nà chǎng jīng diǎn huà jù.
    They decided to restage that classic play.
  • 重演。
    Tóng yàng de cuò wù bù néng zài chóng yǎn.
    The same mistake cannot be repeated.

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.

重zhòngagain
演yǎnperform

重 'again' and 演 'perform' mean to perform or happen again.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
人人rénman
Sound part声符shēngfú
東
東dōng重zhòng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

重 developed from a picture of a man carrying a bag, with 人 for the man and 東 for the bag; a later ground element was folded into the form.

Open 重 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
氵Written in full as水shuǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
寅
寅yín演yǎn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

演 pairs 氵 (water) with 寅, which gives the sound yín.

Open 演 →

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