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五星 (wǔ xīng) — (noun) five stars (as on the Chinese flag, also a symbol of China); (noun) five stars (as a rating: the highest grade, e.g. five-star hotel, five-star service); (noun, astronomy) the five classical planets (Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Saturn)

Definition

Literally 'five stars', used for both the stars on the Chinese flag and the top 'five-star' rating. In astronomy it refers to the five classical planets visible to the naked eye (Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Saturn).

noun
five stars (as on the Chinese flag, also a symbol of China)five stars (as a rating: the highest grade, e.g. five-star hotel, five-star service)(noun, astronomy) the five classical planets (Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Saturn)

Examples

  • 五星。
    Zhè miàn qí shàng yǒu wǔ xīng.
    This flag has five stars on it.
  • 五星，。
    Zhè shì yì jiā wǔ xīng jiǔ diàn, fú wù fēi cháng hǎo.
    This is a five-star hotel with excellent service.
  • 五星。
    Gǔ rén duì wǔ xīng de yùn xíng yǒu xiáng xì guān cè.
    The ancients made detailed observations of the five planets (Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Saturn).

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.

五wǔfive
星xīngstar

五 conveys five and 星 conveys star, together meaning five stars, a top rating or the five classical planets.

Characters in this word

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

An older form had a crossed mark between a top bar and a bottom bar. The modern 五 keeps those bars, while the original idea is uncertain.

Open 五 →

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

The top of 星 is a later simplified form of 晶, twinkling stars; the bottom 生 shows the sound.

Open 星 →
Appears in
Numbers & Counting

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