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十点 (shí diǎn) — ten o'clock

Definition

noun
ten o'clock

Examples

  • 十点，。
    Xiàn zài shí diǎn le, gāi shuì jiào le.
    It's ten o'clock now, time to go to sleep.
  • 十点。
    Wǒ men yuē hǎo shí diǎn jiàn miàn.
    We agreed to meet at ten o'clock.
  • 十点。
    shí diǎn De diàn yǐng piào yǐ jīng mài wán le.
    The movie tickets for ten o'clock are already sold out.

Origin

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 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 點; 点 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
黑黑hēiblack
Sound part声符shēngfú
占
占zhàn點diǎn(r)
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 點 pairs 黑 (black) with 占 for its sound; the simplified 点 is a later abbreviation.

Open 点 →
Appears in
Time of Day

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