冬夜 (dōng yè) — winter night

Definition

noun
winter night

Examples

  • 冬夜,。
    Zài hán lěng de dōng yè lǐ, tā yí gè rén zǒu zài jiē shàng.
    On the cold winter night, he walked alone on the street.
  • 冬夜。
    dōng yè De xīng kōng gé wài měi lì.
    The starry sky on a winter night is especially beautiful.
  • ,冬夜。
    Tā men wéi zuò zài huǒ lú páng, dù guò le yí gè wēn nuǎn de dōng yè.
    They sat around the stove and spent a warm winter night.

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.

冬dōngwinter
夜yènight

冬 winter specifies the kind of 夜 night.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 冬 →

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.

Open 夜 →

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