叹词 (tàn cí) — (linguistics) interjection; exclamation

Definition

叹词 is the linguistics term for an interjection — a small word like 啊, 哦, or 喂 that expresses a sudden feeling or reaction rather than naming anything.

noun
(linguistics) interjectionexclamation

Examples

  • 叹词“”“”“”。
    Hàn yǔ zhōng de tàn cí bāo kuò "a" "ò" "wèi" děng.
    Interjections in Chinese include 'ah', 'oh', 'hey', etc.
  • 叹词。
    Lǎo shī ràng wǒ men zhǎo chū kè wén lǐ de tàn cí.
    The teacher asked us to find the interjections in the text.
  • 叹词，。
    tàn cí Zài kǒu yǔ zhōng hěn cháng jiàn, dàn zài shū miàn yǔ zhōng jiào shǎo shǐ yòng.
    Interjections are very common in spoken language but less used in written language.

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.

叹tànexclaim
词cíword

叹 (exclaim) describes a kind of 词 (word): one expressing an exclamation.

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 嘆; 叹 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 叹 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words it is 嘆; in others it is 歎.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
口口kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
歎
歎tàn嘆tàn
Same sound today

The traditional form 嘆 pairs 口 (mouth) with 歎 as the sound part; it shows a mouth letting out a sigh.

Open 叹 →

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 詞; 词 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánspeech
Sound part声符shēngfú
司
司sī詞cí(r)
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 詞 uses 言, meaning speech, and 司 to show how it was pronounced; the simplified 词 is a shorthand, and its right side is not the historical sound part.

Open 词 →

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