中世纪 (zhōng shì jì) — Middle Ages | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Refers to the European Middle Ages (roughly 5th–15th century). Distinct from 古代 (ancient China) and 近代 (modern era), which are used for Chinese history periods.

noun

Middle Ages

Examples

中世纪。
Ōu zhōu de zhōng shì jì chí xù le dà yuē yì qiān nián.
Europe's Middle Ages lasted about a thousand years.
中世纪。
zhōng shì jì Shí qī de jiàn zhù fēi cháng zhuàng guān.
The architecture of the Middle Ages is very magnificent.
中世纪。
Hěn duō zhōng shì jì de gù shi bèi xiě chéng le xiǎo shuō.
Many stories from the Middle Ages were written into novels.

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.

中zhōngmiddle

世纪century

世shìage纪jìera

联合Coordinate

中 (middle) and 世纪 (century) name the middle period between ancient and modern times.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The original picture showed a flagpole with a drum in the middle, set up in the center of a field.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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 紀; 纪 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

糸糸mìsilk

Sound part声符shēngfú

己

己jǐ紀jì

Same sound today

The traditional form 紀 pairs 糸, silk, with 己 as the sound part; the simplified 纪 is a shorthand.

Appears in

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