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宴席 (yàn xí) — banquet; feast

Definition

noun
banquetfeast
Measure word · 桌

Examples

  • 宴席。
    Hūn lǐ shàng bǎi le èr shí zhuō yàn xí.
    The wedding had twenty tables of banquet.
  • ，宴席。
    Kè rén lù xù rù zuò, yàn xí hěn kuài jiù kāi shǐ le.
    Guests took their seats one after another, and the banquet started very soon.
  • ，宴席。
    Wèi huān yíng xīn tóng shì, gōng sī jīn wǎn jǔ bàn yàn xí.
    To welcome a new colleague, the company is holding a banquet tonight.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

宴yànbanquet
席xífeast

宴 and 席 both refer to a banquet, so together they mean a feast.

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
宀宀mián
Sound part声符shēngfú
妟
妟yàn宴
Same sound today

宴 has 宀, a roof, above 妟, which shows a woman and the sun. 妟 also supplies the sound, and the whole shape pictures a woman under a roof with sunlight.

Open 宴 →

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

席 originally showed a woven mat with an ornament. In 席, the mat became 巾, and a later sound part was written as 庶.

Open 席 →
Appears in
Dining & Restaurants

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