探戈舞 (tàn gē wǔ) — tango (dance)

Definition

noun
tango (dance)

Examples

  • 探戈舞。
    Wǒ xué huì le tiào tàn gē wǔ.
    I learned to dance the tango.
  • 探戈舞。
    Zuó wǎn wǒ men qù wǔ tīng tiào le tàn gē wǔ.
    Last night we went to the dance hall and danced the tango.
  • 探戈舞。
    Tā chuān zhuó hóng qún zi tiào le yì zhī tàn gē wǔ.
    She danced a tango wearing a red dress.

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.

探戈tango
探tàn戈gē
音译Transliteration
舞wǔdance

探 and 戈 only spell tango here, while 舞 means dance, so together they mean tango dance.

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
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
𥥍
𥥍𥥍探tàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 探, the 扌 part is a hand, and 𥥍 gives the sound.

Open 探 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

戈 is drawn as an ancient dagger-ax with one blade; its long diagonal stroke comes from the weapon's vertical handle.

Open 戈 →

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
舛舛chuǎnsteps, feet in convergent direction
Sound part声符shēngfú
無
無wú舞wǔ
Same sound today

舞 combines 舛, showing feet in converging steps, with 無 above. 無 gave the sound and also preserved its older meaning of dancing, so the shape points to dancing.

Open 舞 →

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