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交谊舞 (jiāo yì wǔ) — social dancing; ballroom dancing

Definition

noun
social dancingballroom dancing
Measure word · 种

Examples

  • 交谊舞。
    Tā xǐ huan tiào jiāo yì wǔ.
    He likes to do ballroom dancing.
  • 交谊舞。
    Zuó tiān wǒ men yì qǐ tiào jiāo yì wǔ le.
    Yesterday we danced ballroom together.
  • 交谊舞，。
    Tā xué jiāo yì wǔ xué le liǎng nián le, tiào dé fēi cháng hǎo.
    She has been learning ballroom dancing for two years and dances very well.

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.

交谊social relations
交jiāoassociation谊yìfriendship
联合Coordinate
舞wǔdance

交谊 means friendly association and 舞 means dance, so 交谊舞 is social dancing.

Characters in this word

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

交 originally drew a human with crossed legs. In the modern shape, the upper part resembles a standing person.

Open 交 →

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 誼; 谊 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yán
Sound part声符shēngfú
宜
宜yí誼yì
Same sound today

The traditional form 誼 pairs 言, the speech part, with 宜 as a sound part; the simplified 谊 is a later abbreviation.

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
舛舛chuǎnsteps, feet in convergent direction
Sound part声符shēngfú
無
無wú舞wǔ
Same sound today

舞 combines 舛, showing feet in converging steps, with 無 above. 無 gave the sound and also preserved its older meaning of dancing, so the shape points to dancing.

Open 舞 →
Appears in
Dance & Performance

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