山鸡 (shān jī) — pheasant

Definition

noun
pheasant
Measure word · 只

Examples

  • 山鸡。
    Wǒ zài shān shàng kàn dào yì zhī shān jī.
    I saw a pheasant on the mountain.
  • 山鸡。
    Zhè zhǒng shān jī de yǔ máo hěn piào liang.
    This kind of pheasant has beautiful feathers.
  • 山鸡。
    Tā dǎ le yì zhī shān jī dài huí jiā.
    He hunted a pheasant and brought it home.

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.

山shānmountain
鸡jīchicken-like bird

山 means mountain and 鸡 means chicken-like bird, so 山鸡 names a pheasant, a wild bird of the mountains.

Characters in this word

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

山 shows three mountain peaks side by side.

Open 山 →

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 雞; 鸡 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
隹隹zhuīshort-tailed bird
Sound part声符shēngfú
奚
奚xī雞jī
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 雞 pairs 奚, which gives the sound, with 隹, a short-tailed bird. The simplified 鸡 is a later shorthand, and its right side is not the historical 奚.

Open 鸡 →

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