女伶 (nǚ líng) — (literary) actress, female performer (in traditional opera or theater)

Definition

A literary, old-fashioned term for a female performer in traditional Chinese opera or theater. Plain modern Chinese uses 女演员 or 演员 instead.

noun
(literary) actressfemale performer (in traditional opera or theater)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 女伶。
    Zhè wèi nǚ líng de chàng qiāng fēi cháng yōu měi.
    This actress's singing style is very beautiful.
  • ，女伶。
    Mín guó shí qī, nǚ líng de dì wèi zhú jiàn tí gāo.
    During the Republic of China period, the status of actresses gradually rose.
  • 女伶。
    Zhè bù xì lǐ de nǚ líng yǎn dé hěn dòng rén.
    The actress in this play performed very movingly.

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.

女nǚfemale
伶língperformer

女 as female and 伶 as performer combine to mean a female actor.

Characters in this word

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

女 shows a woman with folded arms, kneeling or standing. In the modern form the figure faces right, and the small enclosed part is what is left of one arm.

Open 女 →

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
人人rénman; person
Sound part声符shēngfú
令
令lìng伶líng
Same sound today

The left part 人 shows a person, while the right part 令 gives the character 伶 its sound.

Open 伶 →

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