校花 (xiào huā) — the prettiest girl in school, campus beauty queen

Definition

Campus 'beauty queen' — the prettiest girl in a school. The opposite is 校草 (handsomest boy), which appears in the same school-life idiom.

noun
the prettiest girl in schoolcampus beauty queen
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 校花。
    Dà jiā dōu jué de tā shì xué xiào de xiào huā.
    Everyone thinks she's the prettiest girl in school.
  • 校花？
    Nǐ men xué xiào de xiào huā shì shuí?
    Who is your school's campus beauty queen?
  • 校花。
    Wǒ men xué xiào de xiào huā hé xiào cǎo dōu shì xué shēng huì zhǔ xí.
    Our school's prettiest girl and most handsome boy are both student council presidents.

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.

校xiàoschool
花huāflower; beauty

校 means school and 花 means flower, used for a beauty, giving the school's flower.

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
木木mùtree
Sound part声符shēngfú
交
交jiāo校jiào
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

校 is built from 木 (tree) on the left and 交 on the right, which supplies the sound.

Open 校 →

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
艹Written in full as艸cǎograss; plant
Sound part声符shēngfú
化
化huà花
Same sound today

花 pairs 艹 (grass; plant) with 化, which gives the sound.

Open 花 →

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