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修女 (xiū nǚ) — nun, sister (religious)]

Definition

noun
nunsister (religious)]
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 修女。
    Nà wèi xiū nǚ měi tiān dōu huì qù jiào táng qí dǎo.
    That nun goes to the church to pray every day.
  • 修女。
    Zhè zuò xiū dào yuàn lǐ yǒu èr shí wèi xiū nǚ.
    There are twenty nuns in this convent.
  • 修女，。
    Tā jué dìng chéng wéi yì míng xiū nǚ, bāng zhù yǒu xū yào de rén.
    She decided to become a nun to help those in need.

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.

修xiūreligious practice
女nǚwoman

修, religious practice, specifies the kind of 女, woman.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
彡彡shān
Sound part声符shēngfú
攸
攸yōu修xiū
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

修 is built from 攸, which gives the sound, and 彡, a set of three strokes that shows the meaning.

Open 修 →

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

女 shows a woman with folded arms, kneeling or standing. In the modern form the figure faces right, and the small enclosed part is what is left of one arm.

Open 女 →
Appears in
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