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雌雄 (cí xióng) — male and female (sex distinction); victory and defeat (especially in idioms like 一决雌雄)

Definition

Literary/formal pair for 'male and female' (animals, plants). In set phrases like 一决雌雄 it shifts to mean 'victory and defeat' — a single bout to settle a contest.

noun
male and female (sex distinction)victory and defeat (especially in idioms like 一决雌雄)

Examples

  • 雌雄。
    Kē xué jiā tōng guò jī yīn jué dìng dòng wù de cí xióng.
    Scientists determine animal sex through genes.
  • 雌雄，。
    Liǎng duì jīn tiān jiāng yì jué cí xióng, zhēng duó guàn jūn.
    The two teams will fight it out today for the championship.
  • 雌雄。
    Zhè chǎng bǐ sài de jié guǒ jiāng jué dìng cí xióng.
    The result of this match will decide who wins.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

雌cífemale
雄xióngmale

雌 means female and 雄 means male; together they name the two sexes.

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
隹隹zhuī
Sound part声符shēngfú
此
此cǐ雌cí
Same sound today

雌 is made of 此 and 隹. 此 gives the sound, and 隹 is the part connected to the meaning.

Open 雌 →

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
隹隹zhuī
Sound part声符shēngfú
厷
厷gōng雄xióng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

雄 is formed by putting 隹 together with 厷, with 厷 giving the character's sound.

Open 雄 →
Appears in
HSK 2.0 Level 6Abstract ConceptsBiology

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