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子夜 (zǐ yè) — midnight

Definition

noun
midnight

Examples

  • 子夜。
    Wǒ měi tiān gōng zuò dào zǐ yè.
    I work until midnight every day.
  • 子夜。
    zǐ yè De jiē dào fēi cháng ān jìng.
    The streets at midnight are very quiet.
  • 子夜。
    Wǒ men yuē hǎo zài zǐ yè jiàn miàn.
    We agreed to meet at midnight.

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.

子zǐmidnight hour
夜yènight

子 marks the midnight hour and 夜 means night; together they name midnight.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

子 is drawn as a baby with a large head, arms stretched out, and legs wrapped in a blanket.

Open 子 →

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
夕夕xīmoon
Sound part声符shēngfú
亦
亦yì夜yè
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The form 夜 pairs 亦 as a sound part with 夕 as a moon part, for night. In the modern shape, the 亦 part is broken up and one stroke merges into 夕.

Open 夜 →
Appears in
Time of Day

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