十二月份 (shí èr yuè fèn) — December

Definition

noun
December

Examples

  • 十二月份。
    shí èr yuè fèn Shì yì nián zhōng zuì lěng de yuè fèn zhī yī.
    December is one of the coldest months of the year.
  • 十二月份。
    Wǒ men gōng sī shí èr yuè fèn de xiāo shòu é bǐ shàng ge yuè gāo le hěn duō.
    Our company's sales in December were much higher than last month.
  • 十二月份。
    shí èr yuè fèn Dǐ wǒ men yǒu yí gè zhòng yào de huì yì.
    We have an important meeting at the end of December.

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.

十二twelve
十shíten二èrtwo
联合Side by side
月份month
月yuèmonth份fènunit
偏正Modifier + head

十二 gives the number and 月份 names the month unit, together meaning the twelfth month.

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 →

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

二 is drawn as two parallel strokes, where the number of strokes shows the amount.

Open 二 →

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

月 was drawn as a crescent moon, with the curved outline showing the moon’s shape.

Open 月 →

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
亻Written in full as人rén
Sound part声符shēngfú
分
分fēn份fèn(r)
Same sound today

份 is built from 亻, the person form written in full as 人, and 分, which gives the sound.

Open 份 →

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