变调 (biàn diào) — (noun) tone sandhi (linguistics); (noun) modulation, transposition (music); (verb-object) to change tone or key

Definition

A linguistics/music term for a change of pitch: in language it refers to tone sandhi (tone changes in connected speech, e.g. 一 shifting before a 4th tone); in music it refers to modulation or a key change.

noun
tone sandhi (linguistics)modulationtransposition (music)(verb-object) to change tone or key

Examples

  • 变调，“”。
    Pǔ tōng huà zhōng yǒu hěn duō biàn diào xiàn xiàng, bǐ rú "yī" zì zài sì shēng qián biàn chéng èr shēng.
    Mandarin has many tone sandhi phenomena, for example the character 'yī' changes to the second tone before a fourth tone.
  • 变调，。
    Zhè shǒu qǔ zi zhōng jiān yǒu yí duàn biàn diào, tīng qǐ lái hěn tè bié.
    This piece has a modulation in the middle, and it sounds very special.
  • ，。
    Zhè shǒu gē zài fù gē bù fen biàn le tiáo, ràng rén ěr mù yì xīn.
    This song changed key in the chorus, making it refreshing.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

变biànchange
调tiáotone/key

变 means change and 调 refers to tone or key, so 变调 denotes changing a tone or the changed tone.

Characters in this word

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 變; 变 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
攴攴pū
Sound part声符shēngfú
䜌
䜌䜌變biàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 變 uses 䜌 as a sound part and 攴 as a meaning part.

Open 变 →

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 調; 调 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yán
Sound part声符shēngfú
周
周zhōu調tiáo
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 調 pairs 言 (speech) with 周, which shows how it was pronounced. The simplified 调 is a later shorthand.

Open 调 →

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