原貌 (yuán mào) — original appearance (of a place, building, docu… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

original appearance (of a place, building, document, etc.)

Examples

原貌。
Zhè zuò gǔ chéng jīng guò xiū shàn huī fù le yuán mào.
This ancient city was restored to its original appearance after renovation.
，原貌。
Zhè xiē wén wù bèi xiǎo xīn dì bǎo cún, bǎo chí le yuán yǒu de yuán mào.
These cultural relics were carefully preserved, maintaining their original appearance.
原貌。
Kǎo gǔ xué jiā shì tú huán yuán zhè zuò gōng diàn de yuán mào.
Archaeologists are trying to restore the original appearance of this palace.

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

貌màoappearance

原 means “original” and 貌 means “appearance”, giving the appearance before changes.

Characters in this word

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

泉泉quánspring
厂厂chǎngcliff

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

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

皃皃màolooks

Sound part声符shēngfú

豹

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

貌 uses 皃, an older picture of a face, to show looks, and 豹 as a sound part.

Appears in

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