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时髦 (shí máo) — fashionable, trendy, stylish

Definition

时髦 (shímáo) is an adjective for people, clothes, or looks that are currently fashionable — more about personal style and appearance than 时尚 (the fashion industry/abstract concept) or 热门 (a hot topic).

adjective
fashionabletrendystylish

Examples

  • 时髦。
    Tā zǒng shì chuān zuì shí máo de yī fu.
    She always wears the most fashionable clothes.
  • 时髦。
    Zhè zhǒng fà xíng xiàn zài hěn shí máo.
    This hairstyle is very trendy right now.
  • 时髦，。
    Tā xǐ huan zhuī shí máo, jīng cháng mǎi xīn cháo de dōng xī.
    He likes to follow fashion and often buys trendy things.

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.

时shítime
髦máofashionable

时 refers to the present time and 髦 means fashionable, together describing what is stylish now.

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 時; 时 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
日日rìsun; day
Sound part声符shēngfú
之
之zhī時shí
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 時 pairs 日 (sun/day) with 之 as the part that gives the sound; the simplified 时 is not the form described.

Open 时 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 5Appearance

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