小姑娘 (xiǎo gū niáng) — young girl (typically around 10 years old) | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

young girl (typically around 10 years old)

Measure word · 个

Examples

小姑娘。
Nà ge xiǎo gū niáng hěn kě ài.
That little girl is very cute.
小姑娘。
Zhè ge xiǎo gū niáng jīn nián jiǔ suì le.
This little girl is nine years old this year.
小姑娘。
Nà wèi lǎo nǎi nai qiān zhe xiǎo gū niáng de shǒu guò mǎ lù.
That old grandma held the little girl's hand to cross the road.

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.

姑娘girl

姑gūyoung woman娘niángwoman

联合Side by side

小 means young and 姑娘 means girl, so a young girl.

Characters in this word

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

八八bāto divide; to separate
丨丨gǔnsmall object

The shape of 小 comes from three small dots, later elongated into its strokes; the apparent parts 八 and 丨 are a later way of seeing it.

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

女古姑

Meaning part形符xíngfú

女女nǚwoman

Sound part声符shēngfú

古

古gǔ姑gū

Same sound today

The left part 女 marks it as a woman, and the right part 古 provides the sound. It is used for female relatives like an aunt or mother-in-law.

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

女良娘

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

良

良liáng娘niáng

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

娘 is built from 女 (woman) and 良, which supplies the sound.

Appears in

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