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异味 (yì wèi) — unusual or unpleasant smell, strange odor; rare delicacy, exotic flavor

Definition

异味 (yì wèi) literally 'strange/foreign smell' — most commonly used for an unusual or unpleasant odor. The 'rare delicacy' sense is a specialized, positive twist of the same 'unusual taste' idea.

noun
unusual or unpleasant smellstrange odorrare delicacyexotic flavor

Examples

  • 异味，。
    Zhè ge bīng xiāng lǐ yǒu yì wèi, shí wù kě néng huài le.
    There's a strange smell in this fridge; the food might have gone bad.
  • 异味，。
    Zhè dào cài shì dāng dì yǒu míng de yì wèi, hěn duō rén zhuān chéng lái pǐn cháng.
    This dish is a famous local delicacy; many people come specially to taste it.
  • 异味。
    Fáng jiān lǐ de yì wèi ràng rén hěn bù shū fu.
    The peculiar smell in the room makes people very uncomfortable.

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.

异yìunusual
味wèismell/flavor

异 means unusual and 味 means smell or flavor, so the word denotes an unusual odor or rare delicacy.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 異; 异 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 異 depicts a person with a mask 田 over the face, so the face looks different. The simplified 异 is a later shorthand.

Open 异 →

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
口口kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
未
未wèi味wèi
Same sound today

味 combines 口 (mouth) with 未, which gives the sound wèi; the mouth part relates to taste.

Open 味 →
Appears in
Flavors & SeasoningsSenses

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