高歌 (gāo gē) — to sing loudly and passionately

Definition

verb
to sing loudly and passionately

Examples

  • 高歌。
    Tā zài yīn yuè huì shàng jìn qíng gāo gē.
    He sang his heart out at the concert.
  • 高歌。
    Wǒ men wèi shèng lì ér gāo gē.
    We sang passionately for the victory.
  • 高歌，。
    Tā xǐ huan zài shān shàng gāo gē, gǎn jué zì yóu.
    She likes to sing loudly on the mountain, feeling free.

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.

高gāoloud
歌gēsing

高 indicates loudness and 歌 indicates singing, meaning to sing lustily.

Characters in this word

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

高 was drawn as a tall building.

Open 高 →

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
欠欠qiànblow
Sound part声符shēngfú
哥
哥gē歌gē
Same sound today

The shape 歌 uses 哥 for the sound and 欠, meaning blow. It came from a form of 哥 used for singing.

Open 歌 →

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