夏至 (Xià zhì) — the Summer Solstice (10th solar term in the traditional Chinese calendar)

Definition

One of the 24 solar terms (节气) in the traditional Chinese calendar, marking the longest day of the year (around June 21). It is a seasonal/astronomical marker, not a public holiday.

noun
the Summer Solstice (10th solar term in the traditional Chinese calendar)

Examples

  • 夏至。
    Xià zhì Shì yì nián zhōng bái tiān zuì cháng de yì tiān.
    The summer solstice is the longest day of the year.
  • 夏至，。
    Xià zhì Guò hòu, tiān qì huì yuè lái yuè rè.
    After the summer solstice, the weather gets hotter and hotter.
  • 夏至。
    Běi fāng rén xí guàn zài Xià zhì zhè tiān chī miàn tiáo.
    Northerners have the custom of eating noodles on the summer solstice.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

夏xiàsummer
至zhìarrive

夏 is summer, and 至 gives the sense of arriving.

Characters in this word

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

  • 日日rìsun
  • 頁頁yèhead; man

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

Open 夏 →

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

至 is drawn as an arrow stuck into the ground.

Open 至 →

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