夏天 (xià tiān) — summer | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

'Summer' — one of the four seasons (春天 spring, 夏天 summer, 秋天 autumn, 冬天 winter). 暑假 is the summer vacation period, not the season itself.

noun

summer

Measure word · 个

夏天，。
xià tiān Dào le, wǒ men kě yǐ qù yóu yǒng.
Summer has arrived; we can go swimming.
夏天。
Běi jīng de xià tiān hěn rè.
Summer in Beijing is very hot.
夏天。
Zhè ge xià tiān wǒ xiǎng xué yóu yǒng.
This summer I want to learn to swim.

Derived word

构词法gòucífǎ

后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

The '夏' summer combines with '天' to form the name of the warm season.

Characters in this word

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

Some scholars connect 夏 to 日 (sun) and 頁 (head; man), reading it as a man under the sun, but this is uncertain.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

丁

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

The shape comes from a frontal standing man 大 with a head; 天 pairs 大 with 丁 for sound.

Appears in