幼儿园 (yòu ér yuán) — kindergarten, nursery school

Definition

A noun for kindergarten / nursery school, where 园 means a place for a specific purpose (as in 公园, 花园) and 幼儿 means young children.

noun

kindergartennursery school

Measure word · 个

幼儿园。
Wǒ mèi mei zài yòu ér yuán dāng lǎo shī.
My younger sister works as a teacher at a kindergarten.
幼儿园。
yòu ér yuán De hái zi men zhèng zài zuò yóu xì.
The children at the kindergarten are playing games.
幼儿园。
Zhè suǒ yòu ér yuán yǒu hěn hǎo de shè shī.
This kindergarten has very good facilities.

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.

幼儿young child

偏正Modifier + head

园yuángarden; place

幼 and 儿 describe young children, and 园 denotes a garden or place, so the word means a place for young children.

Characters in this word

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

幺力幼

幼 is built from 幺, shown as tiny, and 力, shown as strength. 幺 may also contribute the sound.

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

The shape 儿 is a simple drawing of a standing person, used as an alternate form of the character for person.

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

囗元园

Meaning part形符xíngfú

囗囗wéi

Sound part声符shēngfú

元

Same sound today

In 园, 元 sits inside 囗, and 元 gives the sound.

Appears in