大行星 (dà xíng xīng) — major planet

Definition

'Major planet' — one of the large planets orbiting a star, as opposed to dwarf planets or minor bodies like asteroids. In Chinese, the common everyday term is simply 行星, with 大行星 used in astronomy to specify the larger bodies.

noun
major planet
Measure word · 颗

Examples

  • 大行星。
    Tài yáng xì yǒu bā kē dà xíng xīng.
    The solar system has eight major planets.
  • 大行星。
    Mù xīng shì tài yáng xì zhōng zuì dà de dà xíng xīng.
    Jupiter is the largest major planet in the solar system.
  • 大行星。
    Tiān wén xué jiā fā xiàn le xīn de dà xíng xīng.
    Astronomers discovered a new major planet.

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.

大dàmajor
行星planet
行xíngmoving星xīngstar
偏正Modifier + head

大 means major, 行 means moving, and 星 means star; together they describe a major moving star, a planet.

Characters in this word

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

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

  • 彳彳chì
  • 亍亍chù

The shape of 行 originally showed a street intersection, even on both sides. Later it became uneven, with 彳 on the left and 亍 on the right.

Open 行 →

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

The top of 星 is a later simplified form of 晶, twinkling stars; the bottom 生 shows the sound.

Open 星 →

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