倩影 (qiàn yǐng) — (literary) beautiful image or silhouette of a woman

Definition

倩影 is a literary word for the graceful silhouette or image of a woman, used in writing rather than everyday speech.

noun
(literary) beautiful image or silhouette of a woman

Examples

  • 倩影。
    Tā de qiàn yǐng yǒng yuǎn liú zài wǒ de jì yì zhōng.
    Her beautiful image will forever remain in my memory.
  • ，倩影。
    Yuè guāng xià, tā de qiàn yǐng xiǎn de gé wài dòng rén.
    In the moonlight, her graceful silhouette appeared especially captivating.
  • 倩影。
    Zhè shǒu shī miáo xiě le yí wèi nǚ zǐ de qiàn yǐng.
    This poem describes the beautiful image of a woman.

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.

倩qiànbeautiful
影yǐngimage

Beautiful in 倩 and image in 影 together give a graceful silhouette.

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
人人rén
Sound part声符shēngfú
青
青qīng倩qiàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

倩 pairs 人, a person, with 青, which gives the sound.

Open 倩 →

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
景
景jǐng影yǐng
Same sound today

影 pairs 景, which gives the sound and also carries the idea of image, with 彡, the part that points to shadow.

Open 影 →

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