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原话 (yuán huà) — original words, original remark

Definition

noun
original wordsoriginal remark

Examples

  • 原话。
    Zhè bú shì wǒ de yuán huà.
    These are not my original words.
  • 原话。
    Qǐng chóng fù yí biàn tā de yuán huà.
    Please repeat his original words.
  • 原话。
    Nǐ yí dìng yào jì zhù tā de yuán huà.
    You must remember her original words.

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.

原yuánoriginal
话huàwords

原 means “original” and 话 means “words”, giving the exact words as first said.

Characters in this word

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

原 combines 泉 (spring) and 厂 (cliff), picturing a spring bursting from a cliff-side, which gives the sense of origin or source.

Open 原 →

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 話; 话 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánword
Sound part声符shēngfú
𠯑
𠯑𠯑話huà
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 話, 言 relates to words and 𠯑 gives the sound; the simplified 话 is a shorthand, so its right side is not that sound part.

Open 话 →
Appears in
Communication & Speech

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