旗袍 (qí páo) — cheongsam; traditional Chinese dress | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A fitted one-piece dress with a high collar and side slits, originating in 1920s Shanghai and now seen as iconic traditional Chinese womenswear. Often contrasted with 汉服, which is the flowing robe-style historical garment.

noun

cheongsamtraditional Chinese dress

Measure word · 件

Examples

旗袍。
Tā mǎi le yí jiàn lán sè de qí páo.
She bought a blue cheongsam.
旗袍。
qí páo Shì zhōng guó chuán tǒng fú zhuāng zhī yī.
The cheongsam is one of the traditional Chinese garments.
旗袍。
Zhè jiàn qí páo de lǐng zi hěn tè bié.
The collar of this cheongsam is very special.

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.

旗qíbanner

The robe 袍 associated with 旗, the banner group, names the traditional Chinese dress.

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

㫃㫃㫃flag

Sound part声符shēngfú

其

其qí旗qí

Same sound today

旗 pairs 㫃, a flag, with 其, which gives the pronunciation qí.

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

衣衣yīclothing

Sound part声符shēngfú

包

包bāo袍páo

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

袍 combines 衣, which means clothing, with 包, which gives the sound.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 HSK 2.0 Level 6

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