一秒 (yī miǎo) — one second | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

one second

。
Tā chí dào le yī yī miǎo.
He was one second late.
。
Wǒ zhī děng nǐ yī yī miǎo.
I'll only wait one second for you.
。
Shì qing zài yī yī miǎo nèi fā shēng le.
The incident happened within one second.

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.

一 gives the number one, and 秒 names the unit of time.

Characters in this word

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

一 is drawn as one horizontal stroke, marking the number one.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

禾少秒

Meaning part形符xíngfú

禾禾hécereal; grain

Sound part声符shēngfú

少

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The form 秒 pairs 禾, a cereal or grain plant, with 少 giving the sound.

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