喜帖 (xǐ tiē) — wedding invitation | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

wedding invitation

Measure word · 张

喜帖。
Wǒ shōu dào le tā de xǐ tiē.
I received her wedding invitation.
喜帖。
Qǐng jiǎn jiù shì yì zhāng jīng měi de xǐ tiē.
A wedding invitation is an exquisite invitation card.
喜帖，。
Tā men hái zài zhǔn bèi xǐ tiē, hūn lǐ zài xià ge yuè.
They are still preparing the wedding invitations; the ceremony is next month.

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.

喜xǐwedding joy

喜 marks the happy wedding event, and 帖 marks the card, yielding a wedding invitation.

Characters in this word

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

壴口喜

喜 combines 壴, a drum, with 口, a mouth.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

巾占帖

Meaning part形符xíngfú

巾巾jīna square item of cloth

Sound part声符shēngfú

占

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

The left part 巾 shows a square item of cloth. The right part 占 gives the sound.