鼓声 (gǔ shēng) — drumbeats; sound of drums | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

drumbeatssound of drums

Measure word · 阵

Examples

鼓声。
Yuǎn chù chuán lái yí zhèn gǔ shēng.
A burst of drumbeats came from afar.
鼓声。
Tā tīng dào gǔ shēng jiù xīng fèn qǐ lái.
He gets excited when he hears drumbeats.
鼓声。
Jié rì de gǔ shēng ràng rén gǎn dào xǐ qìng.
The drumbeats of the festival make people feel festive.

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.

鼓 'drum' and 声 'sound' combine to mean the sound of drums.

Characters in this word

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

壴支鼓

壴壴zhùdrum
支支zhīhand holding drumstick

鼓 combines 壴, a drum, with 支, a hand holding a drumstick, so the character pictures a drum being struck.

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 聲; 声 is its simplified writing.

殸耳聲

Meaning part形符xíngfú

耳耳ěrear

Sound part声符shēngfú

殸

殸qìng聲shēng

Same sound today

The traditional form 聲 pairs 耳 (ear) with 殸 as a sound part; the simplified 声 is a shorthand and does not show those original parts.

Appears in

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