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新秀 (xīn xiù) — rising star, up-and-coming talent

Definition

noun
rising starup-and-coming talent
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 新秀。
    Zhè wèi xīn xiù zài bǐ sài zhōng biǎo xiàn chū sè.
    This rising star performed excellently in the competition.
  • 新秀。
    Tā shì gōng sī lǐ zuì shòu guān zhù de xīn xiù.
    He is the most watched rising star in the company.
  • 新秀。
    Jīn nián de xīn xiù jiǎng bān gěi le yí wèi nián qīng yǎn yuán.
    This year's Rising Star Award was given to a young actor.

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.

新xīnnew
秀xiùoutstanding talent

新 means new, and 秀 means outstanding talent, giving a newly risen star.

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.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
斤斤jīn
Sound part声符shēngfú
辛
辛xīn新xīn
Same sound today

The shape originally paired 斤, for chopping wood, with 辛 for sound. It was borrowed for its sound to write 新, so the chopping-wood parts are unrelated to 'new'.

Open 新 →

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

秀 pairs 禾 (rice plant) with 引 (to draw out flowers), showing a rice plant putting out flowers.

Open 秀 →
Appears in
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