十七日 (shí qī rì) — the 17th day of the month

Definition

noun
the 17th day of the month

Examples

  • 十七日。
    Jīn tiān shí qī rì.
    Today is the 17th.
  • 十七日。
    Wǒ de shēng rì shì shí qī rì.
    My birthday is the 17th.
  • 十七日。
    shí qī rì Shì xīng qī wǔ.
    The 17th is a Friday.

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.

十七seventeen
十shíten七qīseven
联合Side by side
日rìday

十七 gives 'seventeen' and 日 gives 'day', together naming the seventeenth day.

Characters in this word

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

The early shape 十 was mostly a single vertical stroke, sometimes with a dot, and later gained a horizontal stroke to form a cross. For the number ten, it marked the next digit above one.

Open 十 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 七 comes from two crossing lines: the top line runs left to right, and the next line goes down and across.

Open 七 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

日 originally drew the sun. A mark was added inside to tell it apart from similar square shapes.

Open 日 →

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