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陨星 (yǔn xīng) — meteorite

Definition

noun
meteorite
Measure word · 颗

Examples

  • 陨星。
    Kē xué jiā fā xiàn le yì kē yǔn xīng.
    Scientists discovered a meteorite.
  • 陨星。
    Zhè kuài yǔn xīng lái zì huǒ xīng.
    This meteorite came from Mars.
  • 陨星。
    yǔn xīng Zhuì luò zài shā mò lǐ.
    The meteorite fell in the desert.

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.

陨yǔnfall
星xīngstar

陨 means falling and 星 means star; together they name a falling star.

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 隕; 陨 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
𨸏𨸏𨸏
Sound part声符shēngfú
員
員yuán隕yǔn
Same sound today

The traditional form 隕 combines 𨸏 with the sound component 員; the simplified 陨 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the historical components.

Open 陨 →

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

The top of 星 is a later simplified form of 晶, twinkling stars; the bottom 生 shows the sound.

Open 星 →
Appears in
Sky & Space

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