双城记 (shuāng chéng jì) — A Tale of Two Cities (novel by Charles Dickens)

Definition

noun
A Tale of Two Cities (novel by Charles Dickens)

Examples

  • 双城记，。
    Wǒ zuì jìn dú le shuāng chéng jì, fēi cháng gǎn dòng.
    I recently read A Tale of Two Cities and was very moved.
  • 双城记，。
    Lǎo shī tuī jiàn wǒ men kàn shuāng chéng jì, shuō tā shì yí bù jīng diǎn.
    The teacher recommended we read A Tale of Two Cities, saying it's a classic.
  • 双城记。
    shuāng chéng jì De kāi tóu fēi cháng yǒu míng.
    The opening of A Tale of Two Cities is very famous.

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.

双城two cities
双shuāngtwo城chéngcity
偏正Modifier + head
记jìrecord

双 and 城 give two cities, and 记 gives the record being named.

Characters in this word

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

双 is made of two 又 parts side by side. Repeating 又 gives the sense of a pair.

Open 双 →

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
土土tǔsoil
Sound part声符shēngfú
成
成chéng城chéng
Same sound today

城 pairs 土 (soil) with 成 as a sound part, because city walls were originally made of stamped earth.

Open 城 →

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 記; 记 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánspeech; words
Sound part声符shēngfú
己
己jǐ記jì
Same sound today

The traditional form 記 pairs 言 (speech; words) with 己 as a sound part; the simplified 记 is a later shorthand, so its right side is not the historical component.

Open 记 →

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