首演 (shǒu yǎn) — premiere, first performance

Definition

noun

premierefirst performance

Measure word · 场

首演。
Zhè bù huà jù de shǒu yǎn zài rén mín jù chǎng jǔ xíng.
The premiere of this play was held at the People's Theater.
首演，。
Diàn yǐng shǒu yǎn nà tiān, dǎo yǎn hé zhǔ yǎn dōu lái le.
On the day of the film's premiere, the director and lead actors all came.
首演。
Ào yùn huì de shǒu yǎn fēi cháng jīng cǎi.
The Olympic Games' opening ceremony was very spectacular.

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.

演yǎnperformance

首 means first and 演 means performance, together giving the first performance.

Characters in this word

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

The shape comes from an old drawing of an animal's head, showing a long mouth and horns; the version with hair became 首.

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

氵寅演

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐ

Sound part声符shēngfú

寅

寅yín演yǎn

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

演 pairs 氵 (water) with 寅, which gives the sound yín.

Appears in