品红 (pǐn hóng) — magenta; fuchsia; pinkish red

Definition

noun

magentafuchsiapinkish red

品红。
Zhè jiàn yī fu de yán sè shì pǐn hóng.
The color of this piece of clothing is magenta.
品红。
Tā mǎi le yí shù pǐn hóng de méi gui huā.
She bought a bouquet of fuchsia roses.
品红。
Huà zhōng yòng le hěn duō pǐn hóng lái biǎo xiàn rè qíng.
The painting uses a lot of magenta to express passion.

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.

品 suggests a kind, and 红 is red, so the word names a particular red shade.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

品 repeats the same simple shape three times, representing various objects.

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 紅; 红 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

糸糸mìsilk

Sound part声符shēngfú

工

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 紅 puts 糸 (silk) next to 工, which gives the sound; the simplified 红 is a later shorthand.