入夜 (rù yè) — night falls, as night approaches | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Literary way to say 'night falls' — used in writing and news rather than daily speech, often paired with 后 ('after nightfall') in a formal register.

verb

night fallsas night approaches

Examples

入夜，。
rù yè Hòu, qì wēn jiàng dī le hěn duō.
After night falls, the temperature drops a lot.
入夜，。
Měi tiān rù yè hòu, jiē shàng jiù ān jìng le.
Every day after nightfall, the streets become quiet.
，。
Rù le yè, chéng shì cái zhēn zhèng ān jìng xià lái.
Once night falls, the city truly becomes quiet.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

入 means enter and 夜 means night, so entering night describes nightfall.

Characters in this word

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

入 is drawn as an arrowhead, indicating 'to enter'.

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

夕夕xīmoon

Sound part声符shēngfú

亦

亦yì夜yè

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

The form 夜 pairs 亦 as a sound part with 夕 as a moon part, for night. In the modern shape, the 亦 part is broken up and one stroke merges into 夕.

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