余光 (yú guāng) — evening light, twilight, last rays of the sun; peripheral vision, sidelong glance (of the eye)

Definition

Literally 'leftover light', 余光 has two distinct senses: the fading glow of sunset, and what your eye catches at the edge of vision (a sidelong glance). The first example shows the light sense; the second and third show the glance sense.

noun
evening lighttwilightlast rays of the sunperipheral visionsidelong glance (of the eye)

Examples

  • 余光，。
    Tiān biān de yú guāng yuè lái yuè àn, hēi yè jiù yào lái lín.
    The twilight at the horizon is getting darker; the night is coming.
  • ，余光。
    Tā zuò zài zuì hòu yì pái, yòng yú guāng qiāo qiāo kàn le kàn lǎo shī de biǎo qíng.
    He sat in the last row and used his peripheral vision to secretly glance at the teacher's expression.
  • 余光，。
    Wǒ yòng yú guāng yì piē, fā xiàn tā zhèng zài cháo wǒ wēi xiào.
    With a sidelong glance I noticed she was smiling at me.

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.

余yúremaining
光guānglight

余 means remaining and 光 means light, so the word pictures leftover light, hence twilight or peripheral vision.

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 餘; 余 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
食食shí
Sound part声符shēngfú
余
余yú餘Yú
Same sound today

The traditional form 餘 pairs 食 (food) with 余 as its sound part; the simplified 余 is a later abbreviation.

Open 余 →

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

  • 火火huǒfire
  • 卩卩jiékneeling person

The shape 光 places 火 (fire) above 卩 (a kneeling person), showing fire over the head and the shining of light.

Open 光 →

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