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恶名 (è míng) — infamy, bad reputation

Definition

noun
infamybad reputation

Examples

  • ，恶名。
    Tā zuò le bù hǎo de shì, suǒ yǐ yǒu le è míng.
    He did bad things, so he gained a bad reputation.
  • 恶名。
    Zhè ge gōng sī yīn wèi chǎn pǐn yǒu wèn tí ér yǒu le è míng.
    This company gained a bad reputation because of product issues.
  • ，恶名。
    Zhǐ yào nǔ lì gōng zuò, jiù kě yǐ bǎi tuō è míng.
    As long as you work hard, you can get rid of a bad reputation.

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.

恶èbad
名míngname

恶 means bad, and 名 means name, together forming a bad reputation.

Characters in this word

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 惡; 恶 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
亞
亞yā惡è
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 惡 pairs 心 (heart) as the meaning part with 亞 (yā) as the sound part; the simplified 恶 is a later shorthand.

Open 恶 →

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

名 puts 夕 (crescent moon) above 口 (mouth), showing a name spoken in the dark.

Open 名 →
Appears in
Abstract Concepts

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