女尸 (nǚ shī) — female corpse | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

female corpse

Measure word · 具

Examples

女尸。
Kǎo gǔ xué jiā fā xiàn le yí jù nǚ shī.
Archaeologists discovered a female corpse.
女尸。
Zhè jù nǚ shī bǎo cún dé hěn wán hǎo.
This female corpse is very well preserved.
女尸。
Fǎ yī zhèng zài jiǎn chá nà jù nǚ shī.
The forensic doctor is examining that female corpse.

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

尸shīcorpse

女 means female and 尸 means corpse, so this is a female corpse.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 屍; 尸 is its simplified writing.

尸死屍

Meaning part形符xíngfú

死死sǐ

Sound part声符shēngfú

尸

尸shī屍shī

Same sound today

The traditional form 屍 pairs 尸 as a sound part with 死 as a meaning part; this evidence does not explain 尸 alone.

Open 尸 →