出彩 (chū cǎi) — to shine; to do brilliantly; to stand out | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A verb meaning 'to shine, to stand out' by doing something impressive or memorable (e.g. a performance, a move, a result). Unlike 出错 (make a mistake), 出彩 is positive — a standout success.

verb

to shineto do brilliantlyto stand out

Examples

出彩。
Tā zài bǐ sài zhōng biǎo xiàn fēi cháng chū cǎi.
He performed brilliantly in the competition.
。
Tā zài wǎn huì shàng chū le yí cì cǎi.
He had a brilliant moment at the party.
出彩。
Zhè bù diàn yǐng de jié wěi hěn chū cǎi.
The ending of this movie is brilliant.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

出chūproduce

彩cǎibrilliance

出 means to produce or show, and 彩 means brilliance, together suggesting brilliance shown.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

止止zhǐfoot
凵凵kǎncave

出 combines 止 (foot) and 凵 (cave) to show a foot stepping out of a cave.

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

采彡彩

Meaning part形符xíngfú

彡彡shān

Sound part声符shēngfú

采

采cǎi彩cǎi

Same sound today

彩 puts 采, which gives the sound, next to 彡, the three-stroke mark that carries the meaning.

Appears in

Success & Failure

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