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婚前 (hūn qián) — before marriage (premarital period)

Definition

noun
before marriage (premarital period)

Examples

  • 婚前。
    Tā men hūn qián zuò le hěn duō zhǔn bèi.
    They made a lot of preparations before marriage.
  • 婚前。
    hūn qián Jiǎn chá hěn zhòng yào.
    Premarital check-ups are very important.
  • 婚前。
    Tā men hūn qián jiù rèn shi le.
    They already knew each other before marriage.

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
前qiánbefore

婚 points to marriage and 前 to the time before it, giving the premarital period.

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 the older form of 前, 止 (foot) and 舟 (boat) showed a foot on a boat moving forward; in the current 前 those parts are shortened.

Open 前 →
Appears in
Romance & Marriage

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