同音词 (tóng yīn cí) — homophone (words with same pronunciation but different characters and meanings); homonym (words with same pronunciation and same character but different meanings)

Definition

A 同音词 is a pair of words that sound the same but differ in characters (e.g. 是/事) or in meaning with the same character. Studying them matters because Chinese has no alphabet — spelling won't tell them apart.

noun
homophone (words with same pronunciation but different characters and meanings)homonym (words with same pronunciation and same character but different meanings)

Examples

  • 同音词，“”“”。
    Hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu hěn duō tóng yīn cí, bǐ rú "shì" hé "shì".
    There are many homophones in Chinese, such as 'shì' (to be) and 'shì' (matter).
  • 同音词。
    Xué xí tóng yīn cí shí yào zhù yì tā men de zì xíng hé yòng fǎ qū bié.
    When studying homophones, you need to pay attention to their character forms and usage differences.
  • 同音词。
    Zhè běn cí diǎn shōu lù le cháng jiàn de tóng yīn cí.
    This dictionary includes common homophones.

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.

同音same sound
同tóngsame音yīnsound
偏正Modifier + head
词cíword

同音 means same sound, and 词 is a word, so a word with the same pronunciation.

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.

Open 同 →

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

音 adds a short stroke that seals the mouth-like part, showing a covered or muffled sound rather than speech.

Open 音 →

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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