早婚 (zǎo hūn) — to marry at a young age; to have an early marriage

Definition

verb
to marry at a young ageto have an early marriage

Examples

  • 早婚。
    Xiàn zài hěn duō nián qīng rén xuǎn zé zǎo hūn.
    Many young people nowadays choose to marry early.
  • ，早婚。
    Zài yì xiē nóng cūn dì qū, zǎo hūn réng rán hěn cháng jiàn.
    In some rural areas, early marriage is still very common.
  • 早婚。
    Tā yīn wèi zǎo hūn ér fàng qì le xué yè.
    She gave up her studies because of early marriage.

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.

早zǎoearly
婚hūnmarry

早 and 婚 combine early with marrying, meaning to marry at a young age.

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
日日rìsun
Sound part声符shēngfú
棗
棗zǎo早zǎo
Same sound today

The form 早 pairs 日 (sun) with 棗, which gives the sound; an earlier shape of 早 was a picture of an acorn.

Open 早 →

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
女女nǚ
Sound part声符shēngfú
昏
昏hūn婚hūn
Same sound today

婚 uses 女 (woman) for the meaning and 昏 for the sound hūn.

Open 婚 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.