有声 (yǒu shēng) — to have sound, to be audible; (linguistics) voiced (of consonants); (in fixed phrases) vivid, dramatic (e.g., 有声有色)

Definition

A bound morpheme: rare on its own. Most often used in 有声书 (audiobook) and the set phrase 有声有色 ('vivid, lively'). In phonetics, it means 'voiced' (vs 清 'voiceless').

verb
to have soundto be audible(linguistics) voiced (of consonants)(in fixed phrases) vividdramatic (e.g., 有声有色)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 有声。
    Zhè běn yǒu shēng shū jiǎng de shì zhōng guó lì shǐ.
    This audiobook is about Chinese history.
  • ，。
    Tā bǎ gù shi jiǎng dé yǒu shēng yǒu sè, dà jiā dōu tīng rù mí le.
    He told the story so vividly that everyone was captivated.
  • ，有声。
    Zài yǔ yīn xué lǐ, yǒu shēng fǔ yīn hé qīng fǔ yīn bù tóng.
    In phonetics, voiced consonants are different from voiceless consonants.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

有yǒuhave
声shēngsound

有 expresses having, and 声 names sound, giving audible or voiced sense.

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
肉肉ròumeat
Sound part声符shēngfú
又
又yòu有yǒu
Same sound today

The form 有 combines 又, used for its sound, with a shape from 肉, 'meat'; the hand-holding-meat story is a folk explanation, not shown in the oldest shape.

Open 有 →

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 聲; 声 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
耳耳ěrear
Sound part声符shēngfú
殸
殸qìng聲shēng
Same sound today

The traditional form 聲 pairs 耳 (ear) with 殸 as a sound part; the simplified 声 is a shorthand and does not show those original parts.

Open 声 →

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