古画 (gǔ huà) — ancient painting | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

ancient painting

Measure word · 幅

Easily confused

古画。
Zhè fú gǔ huà shì táng dài de.
This ancient painting is from the Tang dynasty.
古画。
Tā zài bó wù guǎn lǐ kàn dào le hěn duō gǔ huà.
He saw many ancient paintings in the museum.
古画。
Wǒ yé ye shōu cáng le jǐ fú zhēn guì de gǔ huà.
My grandfather has collected several precious ancient paintings.

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.

古gǔancient

画huàpainting

古 means ancient and 画 means painting, so 古画 denotes an ancient painting.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

One reading of 古 sees a shield-like shape above an open mark, showing strength and firmness. Another sees a person spitting out bad-tasting food.

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 畫; 画 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

聿聿yùbrush

Sound part声符shēngfú

規

規guī畫huà

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 畫 pairs 聿, a brush, with 規 for its sound. The simplified 画 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the old parts.