光影 (guāng yǐng) — light and shadow

Definition

noun
light and shadow
Easily confused

Examples

  • 光影。
    Shè yǐng shī shàn cháng bǔ zhuō guāng yǐng de biàn huà.
    Photographers are good at capturing the changes of light and shadow.
  • 光影。
    Zhè fú huà zhōng de guāng yǐng chǔ lǐ dé fēi cháng qiǎo miào.
    The handling of light and shadow in this painting is very clever.
  • 光影。
    Diàn yǐng dǎo yǎn lì yòng guāng yǐng yíng zào chū jǐn zhāng de fēn wéi.
    The film director used light and shadow to create a tense atmosphere.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

光guānglight
影yǐngshadow

光 light and 影 shadow combine to mean light and shadow.

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
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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