战歌 (zhàn gē) — battle song; war song; fighting song

Definition

noun
battle songwar songfighting song
Measure word · 首

Examples

  • 战歌,。
    Zhàn shì men gāo chàng zhàn gē, shì qì gāo zhǎng.
    The soldiers sang the battle song loudly, and their morale was high.
  • 战歌。
    Zhè shǒu zhàn gē zài zhàn chǎng shàng jī lì le wú shù rén.
    This war song inspired countless people on the battlefield.
  • 战歌。
    Yóu xì lǐ měi chǎng zhàn dòu qián dōu huì bō fàng zhàn gē.
    In the game, a fighting song plays before every battle.

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.

战zhànbattle
歌gēsong

“战” battle and “歌” song combine to mean a song for war or fighting.

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
Sound part声符shēngfú
占
占zhàn战zhàn
Same sound today

战 pairs 占, which gives its sound, with 戈, a weapon.

Open 战 →

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
欠欠qiànblow
Sound part声符shēngfú
哥
哥gē歌gē
Same sound today

The shape 歌 uses 哥 for the sound and 欠, meaning blow. It came from a form of 哥 used for singing.

Open 歌 →

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