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晦涩 (huì sè) — obscure; hard to understand

Definition

Adjective for writing, language, or ideas that are hard to understand because they are unclear or overly complex — a more literary, written-form word than plain 难懂.

adjective
obscurehard to understand

Examples

  • 晦涩，。
    Zhè piān wén zhāng xiě dé fēi cháng huì sè, hěn nán dú dǒng.
    This article is written very obscurely and is hard to understand.
  • 晦涩，。
    Tā de yǎn jiǎng nèi róng tài huì sè le, tīng zhòng dōu tīng bù dǒng.
    The content of his speech was too obscure; the audience couldn't understand it.
  • 晦涩，。
    Zhè shǒu shī de yì jìng huì sè nán dǒng, xū yào màn màn tǐ huì.
    The artistic conception of this poem is obscure and hard to understand; one needs to savor it slowly.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

晦huìobscure
涩sèrough

晦 means obscure and 涩 means rough, together describing something hard to understand.

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
每
每měi晦huì
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

晦 combines 日 (sun) with 每, which gives its sound.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 澀; 涩 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 澀 is the historical shape being explained; a water-related part was added to it later. The simplified 涩 is only a shorthand.

Open 涩 →
Appears in
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