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光年 (guāng nián) — light-year

Definition

noun
light-year

Examples

  • 光年。
    Kē xué jiā yòng guāng nián lái cè liáng xīng xing zhī jiān de jù lí.
    Scientists use light-years to measure distances between stars.
  • 光年。
    Lí wǒ men zuì jìn de xīng xing yǒu sì guāng nián duō.
    The nearest star to us is over four light-years away.
  • 光年。
    Yì guāng nián dà yuē shì jiǔ wàn sì qiān liù bǎi yì gōng lǐ.
    One light-year is about 9.46 trillion kilometers.

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.

光guānglight
年niányear

光 means light and 年 means year, naming the distance light travels in one year.

Characters in this word

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 →

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
禾禾héwheat; grain
Sound part声符shēngfú
人
人rén年nián
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

年 pairs 禾 (grain) with 人, which gives the sound. Its original meaning was harvest, and it later came to mean a year.

Open 年 →
Appears in
Sky & SpaceUnits & Measurement

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