早间 (zǎo jiān) — morning (time period) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Used mainly as a modifier before nouns (e.g. 早间新闻) for broadcast/media contexts, more formal than 早上.

noun

morning (time period)

Examples

早间。
Wǒ měi tiān zǎo shàng kàn zǎo jiān xīn wén.
I watch the morning news every day.
早间。
zǎo jiān De jiāo tōng bǐ jiào dǔ chē.
The traffic in the morning is relatively congested.
早间。
zǎo jiān Diàn tái yǒu hěn duō hǎo tīng de jié mù.
The morning radio station has a lot of nice programs.

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zǎomorning

间jiāninterval

早 marks the morning time, and 间 gives the span of that period.

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.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Appears in

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