丑相 (chǒu xiāng) — ugly appearance | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

ugly appearance

丑相。
Tā hē zuì yǐ hòu nà fù chǒu xiāng zhēn ràng rén bù gǎn gōng wéi.
His ugly appearance after getting drunk was really hard to compliment.
丑相。
Zhè bù diàn yǐng lǐ de guài wu dōu bèi huà chéng le kě pà de chǒu xiāng.
The monsters in this movie were all drawn with terrible ugly appearances.
，丑相。
Wú lùn dǎ bàn dé duō piào liang, nèi xīn de chǒu xiāng zhōng jiū huì bào lù.
No matter how beautifully you dress, an ugly inner self will eventually show.

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.

相xiāngappearance

丑 'ugly' and 相 'appearance' mean ugly appearance.

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 醜; 丑 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 丑 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words it is 醜; in others (丑) it is 丑.

酉鬼醜

Meaning part形符xíngfú

鬼鬼guǐghost, demon

Sound part声符shēngfú

酉

酉yǒu醜chǒu

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

The traditional form 醜 uses 鬼, a ghost or demon, to show ugliness and 酉 for sound; that shape is about 醜, not about 丑.

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

木目相

In 相, 目 is an eye and 木 is a tree, showing an eye looking at a tree; this originally meant “to observe.”