同心圆 (tóng xīn yuán) — concentric circles | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

concentric circles

Measure word · 个

Examples

同心圆。
Wǒ men zài shù xué kè shàng huà le tóng xīn yuán.
We drew concentric circles in math class.
同心圆，。
Zhè xiē yuán dōu shì tóng xīn yuán, yīn wèi tā men yǒu yí yàng de yuán xīn.
These circles are all concentric circles because they have the same center.
同心圆，。
Huà tóng xīn yuán de shí hou, suǒ yǒu yuán de zhōng xīn bì xū yí yàng.
When drawing concentric circles, the center of all circles must be the same.

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.

同心same center

同tóngsame心xīncenter

偏正Modifier + head

同心 means same center and 圆 means circle, so circles sharing a center.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

同 originally drew a pipe. It is the old form of 筒.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 心 comes from a drawing of a heart, now highly stylized.

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 圓; 圆 is its simplified writing.

囗員圓

Meaning part形符xíngfú

囗囗wéi

Sound part声符shēngfú

員

員yuán圓yuán

Same sound today

This is about the traditional form 圓, not the simplified 圆. In 圓, 囗 surrounds 員, and the inner part of 員 is an old circle picture.

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