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星期四 (xīng qī sì) — Thursday

Definition

noun
Thursday

Examples

  • 星期四。
    Wǒ men xīng qī sì xià wǔ kāi huì.
    We have a meeting on Thursday afternoon.
  • 星期四。
    xīng qī sì Shì yì zhōu zhōng de dì sì tiān.
    Thursday is the fourth day of the week.
  • ？
    Xià xīng qī sì nǐ yǒu kòng ma?
    Are you free next Thursday?

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.

星期week
星xīngstar期qīperiod
偏正Modifier + head
四sìfour

星期 'week' and 四 'four' name the fourth day of the week.

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.

The top of 星 is a later simplified form of 晶, twinkling stars; the bottom 生 shows the sound.

Open 星 →

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rì
Sound part声符shēngfú
其
其qí期qī
Same sound today

The original form paired 其 for its sound with 日 (sun). A related form changed that sun to 月, and this later developed into 期.

Open 期 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The form 四 was drawn as a nose breathing out. It later came to be used for the word four.

Open 四 →

Grammar

Appears in
Days & Weeks

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