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高雅 (gāo yǎ) — elegant, refined, tasteful (of art, music, taste, or manner)

Definition

高雅 describes art, taste, or behavior that is elevated and refined. 优美 highlights graceful beauty; 优雅 focuses on poised, graceful manner.

adjective
elegantrefinedtasteful (of art, music, taste, or manner)

Examples

  • 高雅。
    Tā xǐ huan tīng gāo yǎ yīn yuè.
    She likes listening to refined music.
  • 高雅。
    Zhè jiā cān tīng de zhuāng xiū fēi cháng gāo yǎ.
    The decoration of this restaurant is very elegant.
  • 高雅，。
    Tā de tán tǔ hěn gāo yǎ, ràng rén gǎn jué hěn shū fu.
    His speech is very refined, making people feel very comfortable.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

高gāohigh
雅yǎrefined

高 and 雅 both carry a sense of elevated refinement, giving elegant or tasteful.

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
隹隹zhuīa short-tailed bird
Sound part声符shēngfú
牙
牙yá雅yǎ
Same sound today

雅 pairs 隹, a short-tailed bird, with 牙 as its sound part; the bird was a rook/crow, and the sense was extended to refined.

Open 雅 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Good & Bad

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