婚姻 (hūn yīn) — marriage, matrimony | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

婚姻 is the institution or state of being married, not the wedding event itself (婚礼 is the ceremony, 喜事 is the happy occasion). Use it for the relationship as a lifelong commitment, e.g. 终身大事.

noun

marriagematrimony

Measure word · 桩, 次

Examples

婚姻。
Zhè shì yì zhuāng kuà guó hūn yīn.
This is an international marriage.
婚姻。
Tā yǒu guò yí cì shī bài de hūn yīn.
He has had one failed marriage.
婚姻。
hūn yīn Xū yào xiāng hù lǐ jiě hé bāo róng.
Marriage requires mutual understanding and tolerance.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

婚hūnmarriage

姻yīnmarriage

婚 and 姻 both refer to marriage, so together they mean marriage.

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.

女昏婚

Meaning part形符xíngfú

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.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

女因姻

Meaning part形符xíngfú

女女nǚwoman

Sound part声符shēngfú

因

因yīn姻yīn

Same sound today

姻 combines 女, meaning woman, with 因, which gives the sound; the reference links the whole shape to a marriage involving a woman.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 6 HSK 2.0 Level 5 Romance & Marriage 2000 Most Frequent Chinese Words 3000 Most Frequent Chinese Words 5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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