陶艺 (táo yì) — ceramic art, ceramics | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

ceramic artceramics

Examples

陶艺。
Tā xué xí táo yì yǐ jīng sān nián le.
He has studied ceramic art for three years.
陶艺。
Zhè jiā diàn lǐ yǒu hěn duō jīng měi de táo yì zuò pǐn.
This shop has many exquisite ceramic art works.
陶艺。
Wǒ zuì xǐ huan zhōng guó de chuán tǒng táo yì.
I like traditional Chinese ceramic art most.

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.

陶táopottery

陶 gives pottery, and 艺 gives art, so the word means the art of ceramics.

Characters in this word

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

阜阜fùmound of dirt
勹勹bāotwo people
土土tǔearth

The oldest 陶 paired 阜 (mound of dirt) with 勹 (two people) and 土 (earth), showing digging; the parts below 勹 later changed.

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

艹乙艺

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艹Written in full as艸cǎo

Sound part声符shēngfú

乙

乙yǐ艺yì

Same sound today

In 艺, the top 艹 points to plants, and the lower 乙 gives the sound.

Appears in

Crafts & Handiwork

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