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韵事 (yùn shì) — elegant pastime, refined cultural activity; romantic affair, love story (often with a literary or historical flavor)

Definition

Literary word for a refined, cultured pursuit (poetry, music, moon-viewing) — or, with 风雅/风流, a graceful romantic affair. Carries a classical, elegant tone.

noun
elegant pastimerefined cultural activityromantic affairlove story (often with a literary or historical flavor)

Examples

  • 韵事。
    Gǔ rén cháng bǎ shǎng yuè zuò shī shì wéi fēng yǎ yùn shì.
    Ancient people often regarded moon-viewing and poem-writing as elegant pastimes.
  • 韵事。
    Zhè běn xiǎo shuō jiǎng shù le cái zǐ jiā rén de fēng liú yùn shì.
    This novel tells of a romantic affair between a gifted scholar and a beautiful lady.
  • 韵事。
    Tā de wén zhāng jì lù le xǔ duō wén rén yǎ shì de yùn shì.
    His essays record many refined pastimes of scholars and literati.

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.

韵yùnelegance
事shìaffair

韵 elegance and 事 affair form a refined pastime or romantic tale.

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 韻; 韵 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
音音yīn
Sound part声符shēngfú
員
員yuán韻yùn
Same sound today

The traditional form 韻 pairs 音, meaning sound, with 員 to give its sound; the simplified 韵 is a later shorthand, not made of those original parts.

Open 韵 →

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

In 事, 又 is a hand and 中 is a flagpole with a drum; holding a flag in hand depicts performing a job.

Open 事 →
Appears in
Hobbies & PastimesRomance & Marriage

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