TongTong
Sign in

天书 (tiān shū) — (figurative) illegible or incomprehensible writing; something impossible to read or understand; (historical) imperial edict; imperial order; (Daoism) celestial book; heavenly scripture

Definition

A "heavenly book" — used figuratively for any writing that is completely impossible to read or understand (because it's illegible, too obscure, or beyond you).

noun
(figurative) illegible or incomprehensible writingsomething impossible to read or understand(historical) imperial edictimperial order(Daoism) celestial bookheavenly scripture

Examples

  • ，天书。
    Tā de zì xiě dé tài liáo cǎo, kàn qǐ lái xiàng tiān shū yí yàng.
    His handwriting is so scrawled it looks like an incomprehensible mess.
  • ，天书。
    Zài gǔ dài, huáng dì de zhào shū bèi chēng wéi tiān shū.
    In ancient times, the emperor's edict was called a heavenly book.
  • 天书，。
    Zhè piān xué shù lùn wén duì wǒ lái shuō jiǎn zhí jiù shì tiān shū, wán quán kàn bù dǒng.
    This academic paper is simply a heavenly book to me; I can't understand it at all.

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.

天tiānheaven
书shūbook

天 means heaven and 书 means book, so the sense is a writing from heaven, hard to read.

Characters in this word

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
大大dà
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng天tiān
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.

Open 天 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 書; 书 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
聿聿yùwriting brush
Sound part声符shēngfú
者
者zhě書shū
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 書 uses 聿, a writing brush, and 者 for its sound; the simplified 书 is a later shorthand.

Open 书 →
Appears in
Reading & Writing

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.