天象 (tiān xiàng) — astronomical phenomena; celestial event; constellation

Definition

noun
astronomical phenomenacelestial eventconstellation
Easily confused

Examples

  • 天象。
    Jīn wǎn shì hé guān cè tiān xiàng.
    Tonight is good for observing celestial phenomena.
  • 天象。
    Zhè ge tiān xiàng yóu xǔ duō xīng xing zǔ chéng.
    This constellation is made up of many stars.
  • 天象。
    Gǔ dài zhōng guó rén yòng tiān xiàng lái zhǐ dǎo nóng shì.
    Ancient Chinese used celestial phenomena to guide farming.

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tiānsky
象xiàngphenomena

天 points to sky or heaven, 象 to phenomena, giving celestial events.

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 →

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

象 is drawn as an elephant, with a long trunk, a head, and a big body.

Open 象 →

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