婚配 (hūn pèi) — to marry, to get married (formal)

Definition

A formal, written term for marriage — used in official, legal, or historical contexts (e.g. records, surveys, customs), not in everyday conversation. Compare 婚姻, which names the institution itself.

verb
to marryto get married (formal)

Examples

  • 婚配。
    Tā zài hūn pèi diào chá zhōng huí dá le suǒ yǒu wèn tí.
    He answered all the questions in the marriage survey.
  • 婚配。
    Gǔ dài zhōng guó de hūn pèi xí sú fēi cháng yán gé.
    The marriage customs in ancient China were very strict.
  • 婚配。
    Zhè fèn hūn pèi jì lù yǐ jīng bǎo cún le shàng bǎi nián.
    This marriage record has been preserved for over a hundred years.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

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

婚hūnmarriage
配pèimatch

婚 and 配 both point to joining in marriage, so together they give a formal sense of marrying.

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.

  • 酉酉yǒualcohol vessel
  • 卩卩jiékneeling person

配 is formed by putting 酉, an alcohol vessel, next to 卩, a kneeling person. The reference gives these two parts, but not the reason they combine.

Open 配 →

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