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尾声 (wěi shēng) — (music) coda; concluding passage; (literature) epilogue; closing chapter; (figurative) final stage; end (of an event or period)

Definition

Literary/artistic word for the final part of a work — the coda in music, the epilogue in literature, or the closing stage of an event. More formal than 结尾 and weighted toward artistic works, while 结局 focuses on the plot outcome of a story.

noun
(music) codaconcluding passage(literature) epilogueclosing chapter(figurative) final stageend (of an event or period)

Examples

  • 尾声。
    Zhè shǒu jiāo xiǎng qǔ de wěi shēng huǎn màn ér yōu měi.
    The coda of this symphony is slow and beautiful.
  • 尾声。
    Xiǎo shuō zài wěi shēng zhōng jiāo dài le zhǔ jué de guī sù.
    The novel explains the protagonist's fate in the epilogue.
  • 尾声，。
    Tán pàn yǐ jiē jìn wěi shēng, shuāng fāng jí jiāng dá chéng xié yì.
    The negotiations are nearing their final stage; the two sides will soon reach an agreement.

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.

尾wěiend
声shēngsound

尾 means end and 声 means sound, giving the final sound or concluding part.

Characters in this word

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

The form 尾 combines 尸 (person) and 毛 (hair; feather).

Open 尾 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 聲; 声 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
耳耳ěrear
Sound part声符shēngfú
殸
殸qìng聲shēng
Same sound today

The traditional form 聲 pairs 耳 (ear) with 殸 as a sound part; the simplified 声 is a shorthand and does not show those original parts.

Open 声 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Literature & PoetryMusic

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