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婚事 (hūn shì) — marriage (as an institution or state); wedding (as an event or celebration)

Definition

婚事 refers to the marriage itself — both the wedding event and the broader arrangement or state of being married. Often used for one's own or family matters (e.g. 操办婚事, 婚事大事).

noun
marriage (as an institution or state)wedding (as an event or celebration)
Measure word · 门

Examples

  • 婚事，。
    Tā men zhèng zài zhǔn bèi hūn shì, fēi cháng máng.
    They are busy preparing for the wedding.
  • 婚事，。
    Tán dào hūn shì, tā zǒng shì yì liǎn yán sù.
    When it comes to marriage matters, he always looks serious.
  • 婚事。
    Fù mǔ de hūn shì yǐ jīng guò qù sì shí nián le.
    It has been forty years since our parents' wedding.

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.

婚hūnmarriage
事shìmatter

婚 means marriage and 事 means matter, together giving marriage or wedding.

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
女女nǚ
Sound part声符shēngfú
昏
昏hūn婚hūn
Same sound today

婚 uses 女 (woman) for the meaning and 昏 for the sound hūn.

Open 婚 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

In 事, 又 is a hand and 中 is a flagpole with a drum; holding a flag in hand depicts performing a job.

Open 事 →
Appears in
Romance & Marriage

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