鼻音 (bí yīn) — nasal sound | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A phonetic term for a sound produced with air flowing through the nose, as in the 'n' or 'ng' ending of many Chinese syllables (汉语拼音的 n 和 ng).

noun

nasal sound

Examples

鼻音。
Tā shuō huà yǒu bí yīn.
He speaks with a nasal sound.
鼻音。
Hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu hěn duō bí yīn.
There are many nasal sounds in Chinese.
鼻音。
Zhè ge zì de dú yīn bāo hán yí gè bí yīn.
The pronunciation of this character contains a nasal sound.

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.

鼻 points to the nose, and 音 means sound; together a nasal sound.

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.

自畀鼻

Meaning part形符xíngfú

自自zìnose

Sound part声符shēngfú

畀

畀bì鼻bí

Same sound today

鼻 pairs 自, meaning nose, with 畀, which gives the sound.

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

音 adds a short stroke that seals the mouth-like part, showing a covered or muffled sound rather than speech.

Appears in

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