悲鸣 (bēi míng) — to cry plaintively; to lament (of birds or animals)

Definition

悲鸣 (bēi míng) is a literary verb for 'to cry plaintively' or 'lament' — almost always of birds or animals, not people. The mournful tone is built into the word: 悲 (sad) + 鸣 (cry/call).

verb
to cry plaintivelyto lament (of birds or animals)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 悲鸣。
    Shòu shāng de niǎo r zài shù lín lǐ bēi míng.
    The injured bird was crying plaintively in the woods.
  • 悲鸣。
    Yè lǐ tīng dào yuǎn chù chuán lái yí zhèn bēi míng.
    At night I heard a burst of plaintive cries from afar.
  • 悲鸣。
    Nà zhī dà yàn bēi míng zhe fēi zǒu le.
    That wild goose flew away with a plaintive cry.

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.

悲bēisorrow
鸣míngcry

悲 adds sorrow to 鸣, giving a mournful cry.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
心心xīnheart; thought; emotion
Sound part声符shēngfú
非
非fēi悲bēi
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

悲 pairs 非 as the sound part with 心, the heart/emotion part.

Open 悲 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 鳴; 鸣 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 鳴 combines 口 (mouth) and 鳥 (bird) to show a bird crying.

Open 鸣 →

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