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幽默 (yōu mò) — humorous, witty

Definition

A loanword meaning 'humorous' — a quality of people, speech, or things that are genuinely clever and witty, not just silly. More intellectual than 滑稽 (comical/silly); closer to 风趣 but 幽默 can describe people, style, or content.

adjective
humorouswitty

Examples

  • 幽默。
    Zhè ge diàn yǐng hěn yōu mò.
    This movie is humorous.
  • 幽默。
    Dà jiā dōu xǐ huan yōu mò de lǎo shī.
    Everyone likes a humorous teacher.
  • 幽默。
    Tā shuō huà hěn yōu mò.
    The way he talks is humorous.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
音译yīnyìTransliteration

The characters spell the sound of a foreign word; their individual meanings play no part.

幽yōu
默mò

The word spells humor; 幽 and 默 do not contribute separate meanings here.

Sound-only characters

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
山山shān
Sound part声符shēngfú
𢆶
𢆶𢆶幽yōu
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

幽 pairs 山, mountain, with 𢆶 as a sound part.

Open 幽 →

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
犬犬quǎndog
Sound part声符shēngfú
黑
黑hēi默mò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

默 pairs 黑 with 犬 (dog), and 黑 gives the sound.

Open 默 →
Appears in
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