大马哈鱼 (dà mǎ hǎ yú) — chum salmon

Definition

noun

chum salmon

Measure word · 条

大马哈鱼。
Zhè tiáo dà mǎ hǎ yú shì cóng hēi lóng jiāng bǔ lāo de.
This chum salmon was caught from the Heilong River.
大马哈鱼，。
dà mǎ hǎ yú De ròu zhì xiān měi, shì hé qīng zhēng.
The flesh of chum salmon is delicious and suitable for steaming.
大马哈鱼洄。
Měi nián qiū jì dà mǎ hǎ yú huì huí yóu dào shàng yóu chǎn luǎn.
Every autumn, chum salmon migrate upstream to spawn.

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.

大马哈salmon

The sound 大马哈 gives the name, and 鱼 means fish, together giving chum salmon.

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.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 馬; 马 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 馬 shows a horse with its head facing left, a flowing mane, and two legs standing vertically.

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

口合哈

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

合

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

哈 uses 口 (mouth) to show a mouth-related idea, and 合 as a sound part. The shape of 合 may look like two open mouths, but that is likely by chance.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 魚; 鱼 is its simplified writing.

For 鱼, the traditional form 魚 is a picture of a fish.

Appears in