鸦片 (yā piàn) — opium

Definition

noun
opium

Examples

  • 鸦片
    Zài lì shǐ shàng, yā piàn céng jīng bèi yòng lái zuò zhǐ tòng yào.
    In history, opium was once used to make painkillers.
  • 鸦片
    Xī shí yā piàn duì shēn tǐ fēi cháng yǒu hài.
    Smoking opium is very harmful to the body.
  • 鸦片
    Shí jiǔ shì jì, yīng guó xiàng zhōng guó dà liàng zǒu sī yā piàn.
    In the 19th century, Britain smuggled large amounts of opium into China.

Origin

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 鴉; 鸦 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
niǎobird
Sound part声符shēngfú
Same sound today

The traditional form 鴉 pairs 牙 as a sound part with 鳥, meaning bird; the simplified 鸦 is a later abbreviation and its parts are not the historical components.

Open 鸦 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 片 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.