四十秒 (sì shí miǎo) — forty seconds

Definition

noun
forty seconds

Examples

  • 四十秒。
    Bǐ sài zhǐ yòng le sì shí miǎo.
    The competition only took forty seconds.
  • 四十秒。
    Tā néng zài sì shí miǎo nèi pǎo wán yì bǎi mǐ.
    He can run 100 meters in forty seconds.
  • 四十秒。
    Hái yǒu sì shí miǎo jiù kāi shǐ le.
    There are still forty seconds until it starts.

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.

四十forty
四sìfour十shíten
偏正Modifier + head
秒miǎosecond

四十 (forty) and 秒 (seconds) give forty seconds.

Characters in this word

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

The form 四 was drawn as a nose breathing out. It later came to be used for the word four.

Open 四 →

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

The early shape 十 was mostly a single vertical stroke, sometimes with a dot, and later gained a horizontal stroke to form a cross. For the number ten, it marked the next digit above one.

Open 十 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
禾禾hécereal; grain
Sound part声符shēngfú
少
少shǎo秒miǎo
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The form 秒 pairs 禾, a cereal or grain plant, with 少 giving the sound.

Open 秒 →

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