旧事 (jiù shì) — past events, old matters | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

past eventsold matters

Examples

旧事。
Nà xiē jiù shì yǐ jīng bú zhòng yào le.
Those past events are no longer important.
旧事，。
Tí qǐ zhè xiē jiù shì, tā xiǎn de hěn shāng gǎn.
Bringing up these old matters, he seemed very sad.
旧事。
Guò qù de jiù shì jiù ràng tā guò qù ba.
Let the past be the past.

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.

旧 (old) describes 事 (matters), meaning events from the past.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 舊; 旧 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

雈雈huánowl

Sound part声符shēngfú

臼

臼jiù舊jiù

Same sound today

The traditional form of 旧 is 舊, which shows 雈, an owl, above 臼, which gives the sound.

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

又又yòuhand
中中zhōnga flagpole with a drum

In 事, 又 is a hand and 中 is a flagpole with a drum; holding a flag in hand depicts performing a job.

Appears in

Time (Abstract)

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