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长夜 (cháng yè) — long night (literal); prolonged period of darkness or suffering (metaphorical)

Definition

Literally 'long night,' but in literary and figurative use it means an extended period of suffering, oppression, or darkness. Common in poetry and historical writing about war or hardship.

noun
long night (literal)prolonged period of darkness or suffering (metaphorical)

Examples

  • ，长夜。
    Zǒu le yì tiān de lù, tā jué de cháng yè hǎo xiàng méi yǒu jìn tóu.
    After walking all day, he felt the long night seemed endless.
  • ，长夜。
    Nà chǎng zhàn zhēng jié shù hòu, rén men zhōng yú zǒu chū le cháng yè.
    After that war ended, people finally emerged from the long night.
  • 长夜。
    Shī rén yòng cháng yè bǐ yù rén shēng zhōng de kùn jìng.
    The poet uses 'long night' as a metaphor for hardship in life.

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.

长chánglong
夜yènight

长 means long and 夜 means night, denoting a long night.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 長; 长 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 長 pictures an old man with long hair. The simplified 长 is a later shorthand, so its strokes do not show that original picture.

Open 长 →

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
夕夕xīmoon
Sound part声符shēngfú
亦
亦yì夜yè
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The form 夜 pairs 亦 as a sound part with 夕 as a moon part, for night. In the modern shape, the 亦 part is broken up and one stroke merges into 夕.

Open 夜 →
Appears in
Time of Day

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