金婚 (jīn hūn) — golden wedding (50th wedding anniversary)

Definition

The Chinese name for a 50th wedding anniversary. 金 (‘golden’) marks the milestone the same way Western tradition does — different from anniversary names for other years (e.g. 银婚 for 25th).

noun
golden wedding (50th wedding anniversary)

Examples

  • 金婚。
    Tā men xià ge yuè yào qìng zhù jīn hūn.
    They will celebrate their golden wedding next month.
  • 金婚。
    jīn hūn Shì fū qī jié hūn wǔ shí zhōu nián jì niàn rì.
    The golden wedding is the 50th wedding anniversary of a couple.
  • ，金婚。
    Wǒ de zǔ fù mǔ jīn nián zhèng hǎo jié hūn wǔ shí nián, yíng lái le tā men de jīn hūn.
    My grandparents are exactly 50 years married this year, ushering in their golden wedding.

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.

金jīngold
婚hūnmarriage

金 and 婚 combine to mean the golden wedding anniversary.

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.

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 →

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
女女nǚ
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.

Open 婚 →

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