假期 (jià qī) — vacation | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

General word for a vacation or holiday period, usually a stretch of days off work or school. 比节日 longer (days/weeks off) and overlaps with 假日, but 假期 emphasizes the time span you take off.

noun

vacation

Measure word · 个

Examples

，假期。
Hán jià de shí hou, wǒ yǒu yí gè yuè jià qī.
During winter vacation, I have one month of vacation.
假期？
Nǐ men gōng sī jià qī yǒu jǐ tiān?
How many vacation days does your company have?
假期。
Zhè ge jià qī wǒ qù le shàng hǎi.
This vacation I went to Shanghai.

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.

假jiǎholiday

期qīperiod

假期 combines 假 (holiday) and 期 (period) to mean a period of holiday.

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.

亻叚假

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rénperson

Sound part声符shēngfú

叚

叚jiǎ假jiǎ

Same sound today

假 pairs 亻 (person) with 叚, which gives the sound jiǎ.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

其

其qí期qī

Same sound today

The original form paired 其 for its sound with 日 (sun). A related form changed that sun to 月, and this later developed into 期.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 3 Festivals & Holidays 5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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