今夜 (jīn yè) — tonight | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

tonight

Examples

今夜。
jīn yè De yuè sè zhēn měi.
The moonlight tonight is really beautiful.
今夜。
jīn yè Wǒ dǎ suàn zǎo diǎn xiū xi.
I plan to rest a little earlier tonight.
今夜。
jīn yè De yǎn chàng huì qī diǎn kāi shǐ.
The concert tonight starts at seven.

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.

今夜 joins 今, this, and 夜, night, to mean tonight.

Characters in this word

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

One explanation sees the shape as an upside-down mouth with a line below it, giving the idea of not speaking.

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

夕夕xīmoon

Sound part声符shēngfú

亦

亦yì夜yè

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

The form 夜 pairs 亦 as a sound part with 夕 as a moon part, for night. In the modern shape, the 亦 part is broken up and one stroke merges into 夕.

Appears in

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