催眠曲 (cuī mián qǔ) — lullaby | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

lullaby

Measure word · 首

Examples

催眠曲，。
Mā ma chàng le yì shǒu cuī mián qǔ, hái zi hěn kuài jiù shuì zháo le.
Mom sang a lullaby, and the child fell asleep quickly.
催眠曲。
Zhè shǒu cuī mián qǔ de xuán lǜ fēi cháng wēn róu.
The melody of this lullaby is very gentle.
催眠曲。
Tā měi tiān wǎn shàng dōu huì gěi hái zi chàng cuī mián qǔ.
She sings a lullaby to her child every evening.

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.

催眠hypnotize

催cuīurge眠miánsleep

动宾Verb + object

催 means urge and 眠 means sleep, forming induce sleep, which describes 曲 song.

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.

亻崔催

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rénperson

Sound part声符shēngfú

崔

崔cuī催cuī

Same sound today

催 combines 亻, the person part, with 崔, which gives the sound.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

目民眠

Meaning part形符xíngfú

目目mùeye

Sound part声符shēngfú

民

民mín眠mián

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

眠 uses 目 (eye) to show the idea of closing the eyes, with 民 giving the sound.

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

曲 is drawn as a bent object, matching the meaning 'bend'.

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